Should children born in the United States to Undocumented women be given automatic U.S. Citizenship?

Question

I believe we could solve the crisis if we immediately sent to Congress and past a Constitutional Amendment denying automatic citizenship to babies born of women in this country without documentation or legal right to be here. This is not what our founding fathers intended. And it is destroying the economic fabric of this nation. Believe me this scheme of the White house that the congress is passing, will destroy Social Security in less than 5 years. And that was the goal of the Bush Administration.

Answer 1

I agree.

Answer 2

I have to agree. I know it seems selfish, and against the credo of The Statue of Liberty which says, "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses, yearning to be free. The retched refuse of your teeming shore."

However, I cannot deny the economic and culture shift that this is causing. There are concessions being considered that were never offered to our forefathers. Jews fleeing the Holocaust were sent away because of lack of the proper paperwork--fleeing for their lives. Seems a lot more drastic a situation than looking for some tax-free work in this country. Plus, the money doesn't stay here. It's sent back to Mexico to help out family there.

Also, what about the millions of immigrants that had to be sponsored--Dying of the Potato Famine in Ireland, or Persecution in Poland. It's a double-standard to avoid a race issue.

This has nothing to do with race. It has to do with equality. Your situation is of no greater or lesser importance than mine. Yet amnesty and citizenship for circumventing our immigration laws? Tell that to the millions turned away for almost a century and a half. You have it tough. so do millions of Americans. We need to solve real issues in our country before letting people from other countries off because they have similar problems. Not that their problems aren't important, but it is almost like a passive invasion. You know if Mexico is having so many problems supporting it's people, maybe it should become apart of the United States, then it would be our problem.

Just my opinion, I could be wrong.

Answer 3

no longer get rid of it yet qualify it. mom and dad could be electorate for the youngster to be a citizen. Too a lot of human beings taking benefit of the hollow interior the equipment. Come to united statesa., have a infant, and then the government won't kick you out via fact your infant is an American citizen. i could think of that some thing like 3 to 5 years resedence via the mum and dad could be proper earlier birthright citizenship would properly be claimed. as long as human beings are functioning properly interior the rustic, working and contributing legally, i do no longer see a difficulty. the youngster of an illigal immigrent born interior the rustic shouldn't take transport of citizenship.

Answer 4

No one should be granted automatic citizenship just because they are born in this country. Believe me, other countries do not do that. My own son was born in Germany, and he could not even come to this country until he got a passport and I had to submit immigration papers for him, even though I am an American, born in the States, as were my parents, grandparents, great-grandparents...
But this nonsense is deffinitely destroying the fabric of our country as well as our economy.
It does not take a Constitutional amendment for the simple reason that it is NOT the Constituion that grants citizenship to those so born in this country, but rather the liberal judges that sit in the Supreme Court. Remember when Arnold wanted to close the border to keep illegals from going to public schools in California and wanted to take them off the welfare rolls, etc.? The Supreme Court raised hell and told Arnold he had to give to the Mexicans. They have more rights than citizens because of the liberal Supreme Court.

Answer 5

Friend the forefathers who wrote the Constitution never allowed that then and it certainly isn't true today. They didn't like the English rule of common law. So they threw it out after they beat the British, and replaced English rule of common law with the following "By virtue of Natural law". Meaning if you were an American citizen, or a Naturalized citizen. Then and only then are the children born given automatic citizenship. And those who want you to believe that about illegals, and their babies are just as foolish as those who tell it.

Answer 6

The Bush Administration has a lot of zeroes starting with Iraq, but they have nothing to do with destroying Social Security. Every administration has been borrowing from S/S for years, and they NEVER pay it back. There are statistics on what illegals have earned and paid. The figures are in the millions, most do not even derive the benefits of paying the taxes. Your local library could help you look up the figures on this or papers like the New York Times. What Americans forget is that the only REAL Americans are the Indians, and we screwed them good right along. Read the book, "The Last Death" that will cover Indians well. Next, we wave the flag on the 4th of July, but we forget that the colonists had no money to pay their armies. It was Spain that gave them gold, put 26,000 British soldiers into Cuban jails, and it was Spaniards, Mexicans, Indians that fought with the colonists to free them. By the year 2050, Latinos will compromise the largest minority population in the United States. Most of us come from some other country going back into our geneology. My father was from Greece, I was born before he was a naturalized citizen, which gives me dual citizenship with Greece. If a baby is born here it should be considered American as any other American that was born here. I live in a border city, San Ysidro, and the border games are terrific. What they need is better management at the border. Everyone does their own thing. The lines are horrendous, two and three hours sometimes. People have lost their jobs because of the time element. The Mexicans are not terrorists. Mexico has been a very good friend to the United States, and we should reciprocate. We moaned about the Berlin Wall and now we want to build a wall. Border Patrol Agents and Customs Agents are supposed to be psychologically profiled. That is a laugh. Most border guards are from the Phillippines and can hardly speak good English themselves. For some reason they dislike Mexicans and give them a hard time at the border. There is no reason for this. At the booths they play games. Either a person has the documents or does not. If there is a question, instead of the agent leaving his post, one of the supervisors that sits on their duff across the way should come and get the person, but they keep the whole line waiting until the agent gets back. A guy comes to clean during rush hours yet, and the stop everything until he does, holding up the entire line. Attitudes are incredible, even though they are earning a terrific salary and would not have their jobs if it were not for people crossing. In addition, they take their time, do what they want, make insulting remarks at times to the people, and nothing stands in the way of lunch or breaks. They let guards go to put in two doors at a cost of $350,000 each, which do not work half of the time, so now you have lines outside going into Mexico where people are cutting ahead of others who have been waiting in line for hours and no one stops them. Federal employees earn 3 hours annual leave for every so many hours worked. They are allowed to take this time almost at any time. Holidays will find big shortages of help so booths are closed and lines are horrendous. This should not be. I worked for U.S. Customs in Chicago, but with the foreign mail branch. We had strict, but good supervisors, and we did not have the chaos they have at the border. Every time a Senator or Congressman comes to inspect they are all on best behavior. China loves Mexico and is spending millions of dollars there. They will be building a new car and truck and it will be shipped through Laredo, Texas. They are also building many maquilladores (factories). I think the U.S. should built these long ago. The billions spent on fencing and other things at the border could have created new jobs so people would not want to cross. This is a very complex problem with no easy answers, and both sides can make their claims, but I for one firmly believe if you are born in the U.S., you should be a citizen. I suggest that we learn to get along with our neighbor and show some respect. We opened our borders long ago to the tired and weary. We have brought in refugees from all over the world and we moan about the Mexicans why?? Our government gives money for some foreigners to go into business, helps them with housing, and has a lottery for WHITE Europeans that give them citizenship and a green card right away. I ran into this on the Internet, which clearly states NO MEXICANS. Don't believe all the hogwash, start reading historical books and open your eyes and your heart.

Answer 7

bravozulu quoted the relevant passage from the Constitution, the key part being the "under the jurisdiction" bit. These mothers are not under our jurisdiction, and thus their children are not citizens.

But, even if you do consider the children citizens, there is absolutely no constitutional justification to grant citizenship to the parents! I think any illegal alien who crosses the river to pinch out an anchor baby should be deported and given the choice to leave the baby here or take it back. That'll fix that.

Answer 8

I don't think they should be given citizenship if their mother is here illegally. She is breaking the law, and bankrupting the hospitals and American's that have to pay her bills. She should be sent back with the baby as soon as she can leave the hospital, or have her tubes tied and then sent back. These illegal aliens are costing tax payers millions everyday, polluting our cities with crime, and then demand that we speak their language. Enough is enough, and Bush, Kennedy, McCain and the other idiots are stabbing the American people in the back. I get fed up with standing in line at the grocery store and watching these women with five or more kids (that we pay for) buy baskets of groceries with their food stamps and I have to stay within my budget to feed my family with what my JOB brings in. And most of the time they are pregnant with another baby that we will be paying for. Are we going to start lawsuits claiming discrimination to the government to pay our bills when the illegal aliens outnumber us?

Answer 9

It does not solve the problem but it helps. Only children born to US citizens and US permanent residents should get automatic citizenship.

Answer 10

im a so called "anchor baby". my mother crossed the river the night before she gave birth to me and i and the generations after me will forever be in debt to her. she didnt come over to take all the legal citizens money or get on welfare or take americans jobs away from them. she crossed to give me a chance at something i otherwise would have never had. an education and freedom. High and mighty American Citizens whose families came over on the mayflower forget they had to cross a bigger body of water to get here and take all the great things this country offers for granted. so im sorry if my mom commited a crime in having me here and teaching me that there is no better place in the world to live than america. if you cant tell im being sarcastic. next time you think all immigrants should be gone, why dont you try quitting a good paying job, relocating to a strange and unfriendly place alone, and get a job doing the worst jobs for little or no money. then youll see what immigrants have to deal with.

Answer 11

If we cut off all public assistance to illegals that problem would almost entirely disappear. But you're right. The child of an illegal should NOT be given citizenship when the mother has no right to be here. Perhaps those children should be given a 'fast track' back to the US when they become 18--and no mommy can't come back with her child unless she's gone thru the process legally herself.