Birthright Citizenship Bill Fuels Anti-Immigrant Sentiments
Feature Story by Tyler Lewis - 1/23/2006
The right of any individual born in the United States to automatically be considered a citizen, long considered to be settled by the 14th Amendment, has recently become a subject of intense debate in Congress.Among the bills introduced in Congress last year was a bill by U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, R. Colo., which would restrict automatic birthright citizenship to children with at least one parent who, at the time of the child's birth, is a citizen or a lawful immigrant.
Civil rights groups say that federal legislation is not enough to change a constitutional amendment. They say that anti-immigrant proponents are grasping at straws.
"Such an effort [to deny birthright citizenship] defies the constitution, 108 years of Supreme Court precedent, and four centuries of Anglo American law," said John Trasvina, Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) senior vice president for law and policy, in a statement.
Supporters of limiting birthright citizenship assert that the 14th Amendment was never intended for the children of illegal immigrants and has been misapplied. They contend that federal legislation, rather than a constitutional amendment, is sufficient to end birthright citizenship.
The issue even emerged during the current battle over the replacement of Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Civil rights groups say that Supreme Court nominee Judge Samuel A. Alito, Jr. "could have and should have been clearer" in his answer to a question on the constitutionality of birthright citizenship posed by Senator Charles Schumer, D. N.Y., during Alito's Senate hearings last week.
Alito's refusal to adequately answer the question ignores the reality that "the implications of the effort to amend the Constitution by statute are dangerous for constitutional law and the future of the nation," according to MALDEF.
Advocates for immigrants' rights say GOP legislators are exploiting a growing anti-immigrant sentiment in the country. "They throw out these issues they know aren't winning issues...We need to do [a] better job of educating people why it's wrong," said Alvaro Huerto of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles in a December USA Today article.
Many observers acknowledge that a revocation of birthright citizenship isn't likely to happen soon, however, because Republicans are heavily divided on the issue.
Rep. Tancredo tried to attach a birthright citizenship amendment to a bill that passed in the House in December, the Border Protection, Antiterrorism and Illegal Immigration Control Act (HR 4437), but his efforts were blocked when House leadership refused to let the amendment come up for a vote.
