Because we are a welcoming and compassionate society, unfortunately there are those few who seek to circumvent our laws and take advantage of our immigration system. Simply put, the United States cannot be a nation that rewards crime, or that fails to act decisively to deter those who break our laws by entering our country illegally. It is not fair to the many who are waiting patiently to come the right way, and it certainly is not fair to the hardworking taxpayers who ultimately bear the financial burden associated with illegal immigration.
Unfortunately, one of the most egregious incentives to illegal immigration is our allowance of birthright citizenship, whereby the child of illegal immigrants - an "anchor baby" - is born in the United States, automatically making that child a United States citizen. With this practice, we are encouraging the destruction of our immigration laws while simultaneously rewarding those who have broken them.
It is long past time to fix this growing problem, and examining the intent of the 14th Amendment would be a significant step in the right direction. This Amendment was ratified in 1868 primarily as a way to allow former slaves to become U.S. citizens, but in the present day, its misinterpretation also provides for the citizenship of "anchor babies."
Specifically, section 1 of the 14th Amendment reads: "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."
Obviously this clause of the 14th Amendment is extremely broad. Not surprisingly, it has been at the center of a number of legal battles, but has not been debated openly within the halls of Congress. We must not allow the 14th Amendment to weaken our immigration laws; particularly since it was ratified seven years before our first federal immigration law was enacted in 1875. Congress must now determine whether our immigration system - and indeed our economy - are being detrimentally served by its existence.
This is precisely why I am an original cosponsor of H.R. 1868 - the Birthright Citizenship Act - that was authored by my former colleague, Nathan Deal. It would help end the practice of "anchor babies" by amending federal immigration law to require at least one parent to be a citizen, a lawful permanent resident, or an alien on active duty in the Armed Forces. In plain words, it would change the interpretation of section 1 of the 14th Amendment to exclude "anchor babies" from birthright citizenship.
This is necessary because one glaring problem facilitated by the current system is that law-abiding taxpayers inevitably foot the bill for its abuse. Given our current economic situation, one must not underestimate the domino effect this causes. Every dollar spent on illegal immigrants is one not dedicated to reducing our deficit or on programs for our citizens. To put this into perspective, consider the following: 10 percent of children born in this country each year are born to illegal immigrants. At a cost of roughly $8,000 for the birth alone, the total up-front cost of "anchor babies" borne by our taxpayers is approximately $3 billion each year. That is equivalent to the cost of keeping the F-22 line in Marietta open - and nearly 100,000 Americans working on its production - for another year.
As other countries do away with granting citizenship to the children of illegals, liberals in Congress are content to allow birthright citizenship to continue here unabated. This is one case where we should follow the lead of the international community. The financial weight of not doing so will only further sink our economy.
Congress needs to take action through legislation like H.R. 1868 before the effects of "anchor babies" are irreversible.
U.S. Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.) represents Marietta in Congress.
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If you want to see 'anchor baby boulevard', take a ride down, South Cobb Drive & Buford Hwy.
Mr. Gingrey, what in the world do you mean,"there a A FEW, who wish to circumvent our laws"??. 3-4 people are a FEW,....40 million is an INVASION!! And add to that 40 million ANCHOR babies! It wouldn't surprise me a bit to hear that there are 80 million ILLEGALS in our country!! As far as I'm concerned ANCHOR BABIES are still just as ILLEGAL as their parents!!
I BLAME ALL OUR ELECTED OFFICIALS FOR THE 3RD WORLD CONDITIONS WE ARE NOW FACING IN THIS COUNTRY!
Would this be malpractice Dr Phil? Would you be an enabler? or as many of your fellow bigoted minions from the right might say, an accessory to the crime?
Obviously, this is hypocritical childishness...and especially coming from those who have repeatedly beat the drum of "strict constructionism"...so we see now this so called principle is really only a principle of convenience.
The 14th amendment draws no distinctions between babies born on American soil...to change this would require an amendment, not your unserious, political sham of an idea to pass a law in direct conflict with the Constitution.
You couldn't be more wrong. First, you're overlooking the part of the 14th Amendment's Citizenship Clause that says "and subject to the jurisdiction thereof". Illegal aliens are NOT subject to the jurisdiction of the United States government. They are subject to the jurisdiction of their home country's government.
Second, Senator Jacob M. Howard of Michigan, the author of the Citizenship Clause, described the clause as EXCLUDING "persons born in the United States who are foreigners, aliens, and who belong to the families of ambassadors or foreign ministers."
No Amendment is needed-- a new statutory provision, or clarification of the immigration laws with respect to citizenship at birth, is all that is needed to fix the problem.
To those politicians who would obstruct the solving of this problem--- be careful-- be very, very careful, of what you do-- or fail to do-- to address this massive criminal invasion and this pestilence of anchor babies
Rep. Gingrey doesn't make the distinction betwenn those who come legally and those who are Border jumpers and visa overstayers, those who come here to drop their anchors, the untold millions of illegal alien women.
1868 will never be passed in this Congress nor with Obama as President. But the easier road would be for the SCOTUS to overrule Justice Brennan's 1982 misinterpretation of the 14th Amendment that opened the floodgates to illegal alien women seeking to drop anchor and start chain migration.
Phil you are right on. America is moving toward hell.
But please don't argue using the enemies jargon. Two points. One is if we are alone in having immigration to our country? Please name three countries that are not a nation of immigrants at one time or another. Every country is populated by immigrants and their progeny. Remember human life started in a place in Africa and those originals populated the rest of the Earth. Second immigrants don't make a nation great, people do. Unless I missed something I never knew immigrants were better than the ninty percent of us born in this country. Enough said.
These people are disgusting! They remind me of
feral cats! They aren't supposed to be able to work here so they are here for the jackpot that goes with their illegal Mexican babies.
STOP THIS MADNESS!
(1) a U.S. citizen or national;
(2) a lawful permanent resident alien whose residence is in the United States; or
(3) an alien performing active service in the U.S. Armed Forces."
The bill would apply to children born after the bill goes into effect.
Many, many countries either don't have birthright citizenship for those there illegally or have done away with it. And that includes many European countries.
This makes a lot of sense.