The 14th Amendment, Birthright Citizenship, and Illegal Immigrants

In the ever-growing political hotbead that is the issue of illegal immigrants, one topic of interest as of late has been that of "birthright citizenship" which, as its name implies, means that any person born in the United States has the full rights and privileges of being an American citizen. This was provided for in the Constitution's 14th Amendment passed after the end of the Civil War. Section 1 of that amendment says: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States."

Conservatives and others have tried to make an issue out of the fact that the children of illegal immigrants born in the United States instantly become U.S. citizens. So much so, in fact, that Georgia Republican Rep. Nathan Deal along with 70 co-sponsors tried to include a revocation of birthright citizenship in an immigration bill passed by the House in mid-December. GOP House leaders did not let the proposal come to a vote, probably wary of looking too extreme (even as they passed funding to build the Great Wall of America on the border) and I'd like to say it's blatant unconstitutionality, if I believed they cared about that.

Aside from the fact that it would be pretty cruel to revoke citizenship of the children of illegal immigrants who have lived in America since they've been born, the proponents of this legislation really haven't thought of all the ramifications through. First, let's consider the fact that deporting an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants that are in this country is not a practical option (though I'm sure right-wing extremists favor this nonetheless). Even if we do grant them a new kind of legal status as "guest workers" what status would their children have in the country? What rights would they have? One would assume guest workers would be given the constitutional protections provided to American citizens whilst in the country (though I'm sure Republicans would fight this point considering as they don't even believe Americans have constitutional rights anymore). So if there children aren't guest workers and are no longer considered illegals in such a scenario, what would their status be? Would they, should they not be considered American citizens? In Germany, the children of guest workers are not considered citizens and it has lead to enormous social and racial tensions.

Of course, conservatives don't care about these questions. They just care about having another race-splitting wedge issue that will fire up their base or drive swing voters away from Democrats or the polls in general come the mid-term elections.

Now I want to make known that I am not someone who believes that illegal immigration is simply not a problem that we should be concerned about. In fact, I agree with the McCain-Kennedy proposal that would tighten border security while creating a guest worker program (both practical matters in my mind) that would allow them to eventually apply for green cards. We also certainly need to go after the businesses, big and small, that hire illegal immigrants (a part of the problem Republicans often fail to mention).

I do not however agree with these borderline ractist loonies that call for walls to be built, armies to be put on the border, and the undermining of the sacred 14th amendment. Even if I believed them not to be outlandish and wrong, they wouldn't work. Look, until we address the economic issues that lead so many to cross our border we will not stop illegal immigration. We could all stand on the border whilst holding hands and people would still come through as long as they are sleeping on mud streets in Mexico.

So let's agree to stop talking about the wrong issues when it comes to illegal immigration and start talking about the right ones. Maybe then we can finally make some progress we can all be happy with.