Republican Leaders Voice Support for Re-Examining Birthright Citizenship
In a fact-paced turn of events over the past week, Republican leaders in both the House and Senate have voiced their support for examining the issue of birthright citizenship. The debate over birthright citizenship was revived nearly ten days ago when amnesty advocate Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) announced he may introduce a constitutional amendment to end the practice of automatically granting citizenship to children born in the United States regardless of the parents’ immigration status. (Politico, July 29, 2010) Graham’s statements immediately grabbed headlines and sparked furious opposition from amnesty advocates.
But despite such criticism, over the past week key Republican Leaders have echoed Graham’s desire to examine the issue. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell stopped short of endorsing an amendment to the Constitution, but said “I think we ought to take a look at it — hold hearings, listen to the experts on it,” (The Hill, Aug. 2, 2010). McConnell’s statements were similar to Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-AZ) who said he suggested to Senator Graham that “we should hold some hearings and hear first from the constitutional experts to at least tell us what the state of the law on that proposition is.” (Id.)
Other prominent Senators have voiced their support for holding hearings on birthright citizenship. Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jeff Sessions (R-AL) said, “It’s very much worthy of discussion,” adding that he thought hearings are a good way to do it. “I’d like to see somebody draft an amendment, and let’s see what it says.” (Politico, Aug. 4, 2010). Meanwhile Senator John McCain (R-AZ), who is in a heated primary battle, was a little more reserved in his support, stating simply that he supports “the concept of holding hearings.” (Id.)
On the House side, Minority Leader John Boehner announced his support for studying a possible change birthright citizenship on NBC’s Meet the Press. “I think it’s worth considering,” he said. (Meet the Press transcript, Aug. 8, 2010) “[T]here is a problem. To provide an incentive for illegal immigrants to come here so that their children can be U.S. citizens does, in fact, draw more people to our country….[I]n certain parts of our country, clearly, our schools, our hospitals, are being overrun by illegal immigrants, a lot of whom came here just so their children could become U.S. citizens.”
The controversy surrounding birthright citizenship stems from one clause in the first sentence of the 14th Amendment, which reads: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside.” This sentence has been interpreted to automatically grant citizenship to any child born within the territorial United States, regardless of whether their parents are tourists, business travelers, or even illegal aliens. Some scholars argue that birthright citizenship was never intended to be a blanket citizenship to the children of all persons born within the territorial United States. Their research supports the argument that the Framers of the Fourteenth Amendment intended the phrase “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” to mean those having allegiance to the United States government, not those who are merely physically located on U.S. territory. (See FAIR’s Issue Brief, April 2008). They also argue that Section 5 of the 14th Amendment, which reads, “The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article,” grants Congress broad authority to define the phrase by statute.
Whether Congress moves forward with hearings on birthright citizenship is uncertain. What is clear is that the existing interpretation of the first sentence of the 14th Amendment resulting in birthright citizenship has led to significant abuse of the U.S. immigration system. Despite the fact that their parents broke U.S. immigration laws, children of illegal aliens automatically become citizens, are eligible for benefits, and are able to petition to bring their parents into the U.S. when they reach 21. Texas alone last year had approximately 60,000 such births. (Dallas Morning News, Aug. 8, 2010). At Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas, data show that the hospital handled 11,071 births last year to women who could not provide proof of U.S. citizenship – or 74 percent of the total 14,872 births at the hospital. Most of these women are believed to be in the country illegally. (Dallas Morning News, Aug. 8, 2010). There has also been a rapid growth of “birth tourism,” an industry in which companies organize pregnant women from other countries to come to the U.S. to give birth so that their children will become U.S. citizens. In April of this year, ABC News reported that data from the National Center for Health Statistics showed that the number of U.S. births to non-resident mothers rose 53 percent between 2000 and 2006. (ABC News, Apr. 14, 2010).
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