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Birthright?

Thanks to Jory Harris for this letter. As Paul Gessing notes, there is a lot of “nativism” in the public square these days. Behind some of the calls for immigration reform there seems to be some anti-immigrant motivation.

Still, Harris claims that Dr. Paul’s “eliminate birthright citizenship” is somehow unconstitutional. Here I’m not so sure. Harris quotes 14A’s passage, “all persons born or naturalized into the United States.” However, the full quote is:

“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.”

If a woman enters the US illegally and then gives birth here, the question is: Is her child “subject to the jurisdiction thereof”? My non-lawyer’s take is: Maybe yes, maybe no. It seems very defensible to say “No” under the Constituton, as the child was not “subject to US jurisdiction.”

I’m for liberal immigration policies, but it seems reasonable to have some restrictions on who enters the US, if only for reasons of defense. We don’t, for instance, want people moving here who are ill with communicable diseases. We don’t want al Qaeda members coming here, either.

-Robert Capozzi

Posted by Robert Capozzi on December 27, 2005 08:35 AM |

Free-for-all (frfr-ôl) -- n. A disorderly fight, argument, or competition in which everyone present participates.

from Dictionary.com



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