A Seriously Slippery Slope
Posted By Kathleen David on August 4, 2010
We were watching the Daily Show last night like we usual do. I was half listening to what was being said when I felt a chill go through my spine. I had Peter run it back to make sure I heard what I thought I heard. There is a movement, which I really hope gets quashed very quickly, to repeal the 14th amendment which says that if you are born in the USA you are an American Citizen. The reasoning is that people run to the US and have an anchor baby so that child is their ticket to citizenship since if the child is born in the US then it is a US citizen.
I have to agree with John Stewart that the mother is probably thinking more about the miracle of life that she has brought into the world then, Yippie, I can become a citizen now.
Now I am the child of two American Citizens. My parents were the children of immigrants from various places in Europe. Peter’s parents immigrated to the US. He is an American Citizen because he was born here. His parents became citizens. I do know people who are here because their parents got work visas to the US and used that to become citizens. I know people who were born here but their parents weren’t but they went through the whole naturalization process. I can remember going to a friend’s family party when her father swore his oath of citizenship. I know people who came here as children and technically never went home but they were small children and infants and they haven’t known any other country but this one. And, yes, I do know people who slipped in the country and are living with their heads down hoping that no one notices them.
The problem is once automatic citizenship is revoked, how far back do you go? Anyone whose parents came in illegally has to leave? Anyone whose grandparents walked across the border (any border) has to leave? How many Senators and Congressmen would have to leave the country because they can’t produce the papers to prove that their ancestors were here legally? Who is here legally really? Those who can prove their ancestors were here when the Constitution was signed? How many people have copies of their ancestor’s immigration paperwork?
And when Lou Dobbs says that you are off the rails, you might want to rethink your position because Lou Dobbs thinks you have gone too far.
I am grateful that I am a US citizen and have the passport to prove it even if I do disagree with some of my fellow citizens.
Kath,
Now we are getting to the heart of the immigration issue. Since the beginnings of our country, we have prided ourselves on our openness, the willingness to accept anyone into becoming a citizen of the USA. Even while denying this in practice (chinese immigrants, irish, etc.) it has still been a founding principle, just as much as democracy and freedom.
But, now, we are facing a crisis, with MILLIONS of illegal emigrants creating problems through out our society. How do we deal with having that large an essentially criminal element in law abiding nation? So, we start trying to find solutions…
This one, basically ending the practice that Born in America means you are an American, is pretty problematic. Yes, it might end the practice of ‘anchor babies’ but it also then makes it a requirement that any child born NOW would need to have documentation of both its parents. Of course, anyone already born here would have to be grandfathered in…
As for your comment that the mother’s are too immersed in the miracle of life to be having concerns of citizenship, then in that I am afraid, you are incorrect. Along the border, pregnant women coming across JUST to have their children is a very common problem. The belief that having an AMERICAN baby will end all its problems is very prevalent, even if it isn’t really correct.
Charlie
We need a guest worker program. This would allow many to cross the border and look for a better life. This would get rid of the need for sanctuary cities so a non-citizen committing a crime could be deported.
To address Charlie’s point, anchor babies would not be needed to work legally in the USA. I think many just want the chance to work here making more money. Citizenship is not the first concern when one is just trying to get by.
The other nice thing is that national parks in the Southeast would no longer be a free growth area for drug lords. Park rangers would not have to risk their lives just walking through the woods. Certainly this is a small percentage of illegals but one that needs to be addressed.
The upside of a guest worker program would be the rights enjoyed by the guest worker. The guest worker would not be limited to living with three other families in a small double wide trailer provided by the farmer as could be the case with illegals. The guest worker would have rights.
The whole problem is one of reform. Opening an avenue to allow someone a legal way to a better life is not a bad thing. Blanket amnesty that aids the minor criminal element is something that could hurt us down the road. All this said, I have no problem with born here, citizen here,
Both of my great-grandfathers on my Dad’s side came from Bohemia – one came here because he was a draft dodger. (I figure my great-grandmothers did, also, but i don’y know for sure.)
I’m not 100% sure just how legally they entered the country.
I call to your attention (if you haven’t already seen it) this cartoon.
(And i also recommend the next three to comic writers and their families…)
And then, on the precise subject of your post, this one and this one.