Should Babies Born to Illegal Alien Mothers, on U.S. Soil, be Automatic U.S. Citizens?

That arrangement is called “birthright citizenship”.

If an illegal alien pregnant woman comes into our country and gives birth on American soil, should that baby get automatic U.S. citizenship? As of now, we grant citizenship to babies born on American soil, but no where in the U.S Constitution does it state that we should do that, contrary to what some might say.

The people who are in favor of granting “birthright citizenship”, argue that the 14th Amendment to our constitution gives those rights to those babies, but that was not the intent of the wording in the 14th Amendment. The wording in the 14th Amendment was intended for the freed slaves after the Civil War. The amendment reads as follows:
“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”.

In 1866, Senator Jacob Howard clearly spelled out the intent of the 14th Amendment by writing: “Every person born within the limits of the United States, and subject to their jurisdiction, is by virtue of natural law a citizen of the United States. This will not, of course, include persons born into 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........”

The key phrase “subject to the jurisdiction thereof”, was intended to exclude American-born persons from automatic citizenship whose allegiance to the United States was not complete. When illegal alien mothers, who are unlawfully in the United States, their native country has a claim of allegiance on that mother and child. Thus, the completeness of their allegiance to the United States is impaired, which therefore precludes automatic citizenship. The correct interpretation of the 14th Amendment is that an illegal alien mother is subject to the jurisprudence of that native country, as is her baby. (this interpretation was taken from the Colorado Alliance for Immigration Reform).

The only industrialized nations who have this “birthright citizenship” is the United States and Canada. This is what has attracted this influx of illegal alien mothers giving birth on American soil. Are we stupid or what?

Since these babies are now considered American citizens, they are eligible for all kinds of welfare and government handouts including food, shelter, clothing, education, and medical care.

The question posed at the outset of this editorial, “Should Babies Born to Illegal Alien Mothers, on U.S. Soil, Be Automatic U.S. Citizens”, should be answered with a resounding “NO”. We are running a national debt of over $18 trillion, and by us giving all this financial and humanitarian assistance to these “birthright babies” and their immediate families (that's why they are referred to as “anchor babies”), we are causing many hardships on both the federal and state governments. If we stop granting automatic citizenship to the babies born on U.S. soil by illegal alien mothers, the flow of illegal immigrants will be dramatically reduced. That's the humanitarian way to uphold the laws of the U.S. by sending them back to their native countries without granting them U.S. citizenship. Of course, we should make the transition back to their native countries as humanely as possible, but it is something that has to be done in order to protect the sovereignty of our country. A country without borders is not a country, but just a way station for others to take advantage of our good nature by entering our country illegally and collecting government benefits paid for by U.S. citizen taxes.

Conservative commentary by Chuck Lehmann