TPM Rounds Up The Anti-Immigration GOPers Targeting Birthright Citizenship

[Joanne98]

Across the country, an out-there theme has been re-emerging among conservatives seeking to crack down on illegal immigration: End "birthright citizenship," a right based in the 14th Amendment, which leads to automatic citizenship for children born in the United States -- at least, end it as it applies to American-born children whose parents are here illegally.

Birthright citizenship in the 14th Amendment was intended, at least in part, to guarantee citizenship for freed slaves and otherwise secure legal equality: "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." Without the concept of birthright citizenship, it's possible for someone to be born without having citizenship in any country at all. Experts have told TPM that any plans to change that right are "clearly unconstitutional."

That's not stopping some right-wingers. Let's take a look at the list of conservatives who insist that birthright citizenship be done away with, either by constitutional amendment or (more often) by looking for a legislative loophole.


1. Lindsey Graham

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who has come under fire from the right for having previously worked on immigration reform, is now going so far as to announce that he will propose a constitutional amendment: "But there's another problem we have in this nation that I think is novel and needs to be fixed. If you come across the border illegally and you have a child in America, automatically, that child becomes an American citizen. Under the 14th Amendment, three court cases says there's a constitutional right to that," Graham said in an appearance Wednesday on Greta Van Susteren's show. "But I may introduce a constitutional amendment that changes the rules if you have a child here. Birthright citizenship I think is a mistake, that we should change our Constitution and say if you come here illegally and you have a child, that child's automatically not a citizen." Watch it.

Continued>>>>
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/07/no-citizenship-for-you-tpm-rounds-up-the-anti-immigration-gopers-targeting-birthright-citizenship.php?ref=fpb

[mike r]

1. Nativism is their new wedge issue