Amend the Constitution so children born of illegal aliens are not citizens of this country?

Question

Should we change the constitution so that these children born of illegals are not legal citizens?

Answer 1

The 14th amendment was never meant to be a loop hole for illegal aliens babies. It was written to assure the citizenship of the newly freed slaves. To prevent them from being shipped back to whatever country they were taken from. Its wording and intent was not to facilitate the so called "anchor baby" bastardization of this amendment. The misinterpretation of the reason and its intent has been perpetuated by ignorant judges and money hungry lawyers.
The 14 th Amendment needs to either be repealed or clarified by congress so that this charade can be stopped. Below is info on the 14th amendment.:

Passed by Congress June 13, 1866, and ratified July 9, 1868, the 14th amendment extended liberties and rights granted by the Bill of Rights to former slaves.

Following the Civil War, Congress submitted to the states three amendments as part of its Reconstruction program to guarantee equal civil and legal rights to black citizens. The major provision of the 14th amendment was to grant citizenship to “All persons born or naturalized in the United States,” thereby granting citizenship to former slaves. Another equally important provision was the statement that “nor shall any state deprive any person of live, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” The right to due process of law and equal protection of the law now applied to both the Federal and state governments. On June 16, 1866, the House Joint Resolution proposing the 14th amendment to the Constitution was submitted to the states. On July 28, 1868, the 14th amendment was declared, in a certificate of the Secretary of State, ratified by the necessary 28 of the 37 States, and became part of the supreme law of the land.

Congressman John A. Bingham of Ohio, the primary author of the first section of the 14th amendment, intended that the amendment also nationalize the Federal Bill of Rights by making it binding upon the states. Senator Jacob Howard of Michigan, introducing the amendment, specifically stated that the privileges and immunities clause would extend to the states “the personal rights guaranteed and secured by the first eight amendments.” He was, however, alone in this assertion. Most senators argued that the privileges and immunities clause did not bind the states to the Federal Bill of Rights.

Not only did the 14th amendment fail to extend the Bill of Rights to the states; it also failed to protect the rights of black citizens. One legacy of Reconstruction was the determined struggle of black and white citizens to make the promise of the 14th amendment a reality. Citizens petitioned and initiated court cases, Congress enacted legislation, and the executive branch attempted to enforce measures that would guard all citizens’ rights. While these citizens did not succeed in empowering the 14th amendment during the Reconstruction, they effectively articulated arguments and offered dissenting opinions that would be the basis for change in the 20th century.

Answer 2

Our constitution does not provide for mexicans and other illegals children born by them in this country to be legal because of their birth here. Absolutely we do not need to amend our constitution, we merely need to start deporting and pulling illegal aliens out of the welfare system and that starts the exodus for them; like no money no funny. Just stop feeding them.

Answer 3

Yes the constitution should be amended, they are illegal as well. If their parents came here illegally, they are citizens of the country of origin. By the way, the vote is this week in granting amnesty to illegal aliens!

The 14th Amendment is being misinterpreted. This section of it was intended for those who were in slavery and brought here against their will. Most did not know what region of Africa they came from, no longer knew the culture or customs nor did they speak their own languages or dialects. By the time the 14th Amendment was inacted, Congress granted citizenship to former slaves that are African-American. Before this time,slaves were not viewed as human according to the 3/4ths law. It is a vast difference from voluntarily violating the immigration laws and crossing the borders.

Answer 4

No.

It doesn't address the problem at all.

You know that there are a sustantial number of illegals here, and that this number is increasing. You know that there's a lot of public money being spent on just education and medical care alone, to the extent that it is starting to strain specific communities. The problem isn't going to be solved by defining more people as illegal any more than giving blanket amnesty and defining them all as legal would. Both ends of the spectrum on this issue are totally missing the real problem.

The fact is that the Constitution was intended to protect human rights, within the limits of the jurisdiction of the U.S. Everyone is entitled to equal treatment under the law, and it really doesn't matter what their citizenship status is, everyone has the same rights. Remember the Declaration of Independence? That's what it was talking about, rights of all people everywhere, which we will observe within our borders.

So, what is the real problem?

The real problem is that we've lost touch with what a "right" actually is, and basically give "right" status to anything that enough people scream loudly enough for. A right is merely an ability or power in an individual that others are morally obligated to tolerate. If it takes another party to exercise that power, it isn't a right. You have no right to health care beyond what you can provide yourself, without doctors, nurses, hospitals, or drugs. You have no right to an education beyond what you can get from your own experience. Everything beyond what you can do for yourself is either a privilege, or a matter of contract.

So the answer is to just get the federal government out of education and health care, for a start. Neither appears in the Constitution anyway, but getting out of those means it really doesn't matter whether these children of illegals are citizens or not, they aren't getting free health care or education, unless they move to a specific city that wants to provide it to them.

Answer 5

No, these children should get dual citizenship, the parents home country and the US. If the family gets deported then the children can legally come back here when they are grown. It is unfair to take away the citizenship they are guaranteed by being born here just because their parents did not seek citizenship or were here illegally.

I dont understand why its so hard to find the illegals in this country I am 57 years old and still have to show an ID to get a beer(not cause i look young but because they ID everyone now). It seems if you had no papers you couldnt do anything.

An amendment to the constitution is not necessary state laws should be rivised to say that a child born in the US is granted citizenship in both countries whether parents are legal or illegal, however citizenship when parents are illegal will not stop the deportation of the entire family incuding said child.
Said child may return to the US when family is legally in the US or when child is 18 years of age, or when a legal family member has guardianship over the child in the US.

Answer 6

Actually it isn't amending the constitution it is clarifying the way the 14th amendment is interpreted. We must have it enforced the way it was intended. That intent was NOT to grant citizenship to every kid born here!

Answer 7

Yes, that should be clarified. Ireland was the last of the EU countries to do away with birthright citizenship, years ago. When you subsidize services for your poor, the system is too subject to abuse otherwise.

Answer 8

Yes,we sure should.This is one of the perks that the illegals use to suck this country dry.All you need is an anchor baby and you can get all the benefits you want.At least one parent should be a US citizen for the child to be considered a citizen.We need to stop the incentives for these people to sneak across the border.

Answer 9

That would be a wonderful thing, but I don't think it will happen until Bush is out of power. I think I threw up in my mouth when I heard about the amnesty with Mexico from another post...what is America coming to? Pretty soon we're going to see Mexican flags everywhere and the US will have gone to sh*t, hopefully I will be dead and gone by that time.

Answer 10

No that would be unconstitutional… And then what about the many children born aboard who are automatically US citizens?

It is not the children’s fault that their parents are breaking the law, and maybe the children can learn from it. What is important is that we need to stop the number of illegal born births by slowing the flood of illegal immigrants.