Download 1 Rutgers Model Congress Michigan/ Republican House Committee

Rutgers Model Congress
Michigan/ Republican
House Committee on International Relations
Birthright Citizenship for Children of Aliens
Christina Chen
East Brunswick High School
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Over the years, a major problem America experienced has been the enormous entry of
immigrants into the country. Millions of these aliens arrived illegally, many with the intention of
having a child so that their children can automatically be considered a legal citizen. Congress has
thoroughly considered this problem, taking into consideration the Fourteenth Amendment, which
states that those born in the states were automatically an American citizen. While Congress
attempted to take action in favor of curbing the amendment, birthright citizenship remains a
strongly debated topic between the two parties.
The creation of the Fourteenth Amendment was primarily made to combat the Dred Scott
v. Sanford case, which held that no black of African descent, even a freed black, could be a
citizen of the United States (Erler 1). Thus, it was impossible for states to prevent former slaves
from becoming United States citizenship, and states could no longer prevent any black from
United States citizenship or state citizenship (1). The framing of the amendment was also
strongly influenced by the 1866 Civil Rights Act, which states that “All persons born in the
United States and not subject to any foreign power, excluding Indians not taxed, are hereby
declared to be citizens of the United States” (1). In short, since a constitutional amendment has
the advantage of preventing a later Congress from repealing the act, the Fourteenth Amendment
was designed with the idea to permanently validate the Civil Rights Act.
Section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment states, "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" (“Birthright Citizenship” 1). With this amendment, thousands of
illegal immigrants abused the right of citizenship, and pregnant mothers illegally crossed borders
in order to allow their child to be an American citizen. According to United States Census data,
around 380,000 children are born in the United States each year to illegal-alien mothers, causing
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Congress to debate over this rapidly developing issue (1). These babies were eventually called
“anchor babies” because as U.S. citizens, they become eligible to sponsor for legal immigration
of their relatives when they turn 21 years of age, thus becoming the U.S. "anchor" for an
extended immigrant family (1). Debates have been on-going over whether illegal aliens are, in
fact, "subject to the jurisdiction" of the United States (“Birthright Citizenship” 1). Scholars
continuously argue over the meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment, some believing that it
requires any child born on United States soil to be granted United States citizenship. Others
believe that all words used in a legislation are intended to have meaning and that if a word or
phrase is unclear, congressional debate over the legislation may indicate the author’s point (1).
These scholars assume that the words “subject to the jurisdiction” have a different meaning than
implying "born in the United States.”
Other controversial debates over this topic were caused by court cases Hamdi v. Rumsfeld
and Elkins v. Wilkins. In Hamdi v. Rumsfeld, a young Saudi man captured in Afghanistan while
fighting with the Taliban was taken to Guantanamo Bay. There, Hamdi was discovered to have
been born in Louisiana, though he left the United States before he was even three years old.
Nevertheless, Hamdi asserted the Fourteenth Amendment’s Citizenship Clause (Sutherland 1).
As a result, the Supreme Court had a mix of opinions, but eight of the nine justices of the Court
agreed that the executive branch does not have the power to hold indefinitely a U.S. citizen
without basic due process protections enforceable through judicial review (1). In the other court
case, Elkins v. Wilkins, Elk was an Indian who was denied the right to vote in Nebraska even
though he was a citizen by birth but had been born to a tribe not taxed by the government. As a
result, the Supreme Court held that Indians were not citizens of the United States unless they had
been naturalized by treaty or by a federal collective naturalization statute, or taxed or recognized
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as a citizen by the United States or a state (Lee 1). During these debates on the Fourteenth
Amendment, Senator Howard of Michigan moved to amend it by adding the first sentence in its
present form, minus the phrase “or naturalized” (1).
The jurisdiction requirement was thus added to the original draft of the Fourteenth
Amendment after series of confrontations. Senator Jacob Merritt Howard of Michigan proposed
the addition of the phrase because he wanted to make clear that the simple accident of birth in the
United States was not sufficient to justify citizenship (“Birthright Citizenship” 1). Howard noted
that the jurisdiction requirement is "simply declaratory of what i regard as the law of the land
already" and will not, “include persons born in the United States who are foreigners, aliens, who
belong to the families of ambassadors or foreign ministers accredited to the Government of the
United States, but will include every other class of persons” (1). Also, when faced with the
illegal alien problem, concerned Michigan citizens formed the Michigan Federation for
Immigration Reform and Enforcement. These citizens believe in protecting the nation’s borders
and infrastructure, as well as enforcing immigration laws and defeating any and all plans for
amnesty of illegal aliens. In addition, the Michigan Republican Party passed a resolution calling
for state and federal government to withhold funding from any city acting as a "sanctuary for
illegal aliens." The resolution also called on Congress to pass and the President to sign a bill that
"secures our borders," banning U.S. companies from hiring "illegal aliens" (Reurink 1).
On the whole, the Republican Party believes in reforming immigration practices. Many
were sponsors of the Citizenship Reform Act of 2005, with the purpose of amending the
Immigration and Nationality Act to deny citizenship at birth to children born in the United States
of parents who are not citizens or permanent resident aliens (“H.R..” 1). If enacted into law, the
act would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to limit automatic citizenship at birth. A
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child can only be a citizen if he or she was born in wedlock in the United States to a parent either
of whom is a citizen or national of the United States, or an alien who is lawfully admitted for
permanent residence and maintains his or her residence (“Citizenship Reform..” 1). Children not
falling into the above categories would not be “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States
and thus the Fourteenth Amendment will not apply to them.
As a conservative party, Republicans call for immigration reform, arguing for stronger
immigration laws. In coherence, Republican President George Bush established a temporary
work program with the ideal of encouraging illegal immigrants to legally become citizens.
However, Bush opposes amnesty, believing that granting amnesty encourages the violation of the
country’s laws and perpetuates illegal immigration (“Bush calls for..” 1). His program calls for
illegal immigrants already in the United States to apply for the temporary worker program on the
auspices that they already have a job. However, if temporary workers failed to stay employed or
broke the law, they would be sent home. The new legal status would also allow illegal
immigrants to travel back to their home countries, without the fear they would not be allowed to
return to the United States (1).
In an effort to narrow the ambiguity of the Fourteenth Amendment and deter the influx of
“anchor babies”, Congress should ensure the enforcement of the Citizenship Reform Act of
2005. In addition, the Immigration and Neutrality Act should be further amended so that both
parents of the child must be either citizens or lawful permanent residents (Lee 1). Persons whose
birth parents are not citizens, nationals, or lawful permanent residents of the United States are
not born subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, but rather as being born subject to the
jurisdiction of the other country the parents are from (Lee 1). Also, the source of all birthright
citizenship problems lies in the massive amount of illegal immigration. By lowering the amount
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of illegal immigration, birthright citizenship would also be able to decrease in conjunction. In the
Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA), Congress granted amnesty to more than
three million illegal aliens and sought to curb the flow of illegals by imposing stiff penalties on
businesses that employed them (Mehlman 1). However, the idea of granting amnesty should be
discarded, because an unfair advantage will be given over people who have followed legal
procedures. In order to become a citizen, all immigrants must pass the current citizenship test to
ensure that new citizens know not only the facts of the country, but also the ideals that have
shaped America’s history (Haerens 160). Congress should also enforce the idea of a fence or
border barrier in order to curb the amount of illegal immigration.
To further decrease illegal aliens, the Secretary of Homeland Security needs to take all
actions necessary to maintain operational control over the entire land and maritime border of the
United States through surveillance coverage, additional physical infrastructure, and hiring all
Border Patrol agents authorized in the Intelligence Reform Act (Sensenbrenner 1). Congress also
needs to implement cross-border security agreements with Canada and Mexico. After the initial
reporting, regular updates to Congress on the progress of border should be required. George
Bush’s temporary work program should also be endorsed by Congress as a means of allowing
illegal immigrants to more easily obtain legal status. This system is “compassionate” toward the
illegal aliens, calling for Congress to raise the amount of green cards issued to people wanting to
migrate to the United States, as well as providing better job opportunities. The U.S. Department
of Homeland Security, in coordination with the Labor Department and other agencies, would
administer the new program (“Bush calls for..” 1).
Section five of the Fourteenth Amendment clearly gives America the power to enforce
the provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment, as it should define who is properly within the
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jurisdiction of the United States. Congress should undoubtedly exercise its powers to prevent the
children of illegal aliens from automatically becoming citizens of the United States.
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Works Consulted
“Anchor Babies: Is Citizenship an Entitled Birthright?” Online. Internet.
<http://www.americanpatrol.com/REFERENCE/anchorbaby_FAIR.html> 4 March 2007.
Anderson, Lydia. Immigration. New York: Franklin Watts, 1981.
“Birthright Citizenship. Online. Internet.
<http://www.numbersusa.com/interests/birthrightcitizenship.htm> 4 March 2007.
“Bush calls for changes on Illegal Workers.” Online. Internet.
<http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/01/07/bush.immigration/> 4 March 2007.
“Citizenship Reform Act of 2005 (Introduced into House) HR 698 IH.” Online. Internet.
<http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1377955/posts> 4 March 2007.
Crewdson, John. The Tarnished Door: The New Immigrants and the Transformation of America.
New York: The New York Times Book Co, 1983.
Erler, Edward. “Birthright Citizenship and the Constitution.” 1 December 2005. Online. Internet.
<http://www.heritage.org/Research/GovernmentReform/wm925.cfm> 4 March 2007.
Haerens, Margaret, ed. Illegal Immigration. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2006.
“H.R. 698 [109th]: Citizenship Reform Act of 2005.” Online. Internet.
<http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h109-698> 4 March 2007.
Lee, Margaret M. “U.S. Citizenship to Persons Born in the United States to Alien Parents.” 13
September 2005. Online. Internet. <http://www.factcheck.org/UploadedFiles/CRSCitizenship-Report.pdf> 4 March 2007
Mehlman, Ira. ”It’s back – Immigration Policy Reform.” 4 April 1994. Online. Internet.
<http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1282/is_n6_v46/ai_14987596> 4 March
2007.
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Reurink, John. “MRP Passes Secure Border Resolution” 13 February 2007. Online. Internet.
<https://www.mifire.org/news/michigannews2.php> 4 March 2007.
Sensenbrenner, F. James. “The Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration
Control Act of 2005.” Online. Internet.
<http://judiciary.house.gov/media/pdfs/immbillsection.pdf> 4 March 2007.
Suarez-Orozco, Carola. Children of Immigration. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2001.
Sutherland, Howard. “Rescuing U.S. Citizenship.” 29 August 2002. Online. Internet.
<http://www.vdare.com/sutherland/rescue.htm> 4 March 2007.