Anchor Babies

   By Florida Bill

                 

               Of late, there has been a good deal of rhetoric concerning  babies born on American soil who are the offspring of illegal aliens.   Aside from any other consideration, these babies, so long as they begin life here, are deemed citizens of the United States, entitled to all of the benefits accorded to citizens.  The infants are called "anchor" babies.

                According to census reports, there are some 375,000 children of undocumented residents born annually in the United States--at a rate of one every 93 seconds. 

In 2008, the Pew Hispanic research center, a non partisan group, counted four million American born children with at least one parent who was in the United States illegally.  Eight percent of babies born that year in the United States  had at least one undocumented parent.               

               Some of the candidates now in the news have been critical of the unchecked flow of illegal immigrants, primarily from Mexico, across the Texas border.  I agree that it should not be happening and it was never the intention of the founders of this republic that birth on American soil automatically and without reason guarantees citizenship.

                 Candidate Donald Trump, now,and Michele Bachman, a former Minnesota congresswoman who was a candidate for President four years ago, believe that this automatic citizenship for alien babies entitling  them and their single mothers or parents to social security and other benefits is contrary to the essence of the meaning in the birthright provision of the 14th amendment of the Constitution.  Trump believes that birthright citizenship is right in some cases, but should be denied in other situations, and that there would be no contradiction of the Constitution. Bachman does not endorse caring for children of illegals.  

              Section 1 of the 14th amendment is 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. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."  

                    Is the meaning absolute as some say?  Is it conceivable that if a visiting couple was stranded in the United States for unanticipated and bizarre reasons, and the woman gave birth prematurely to a baby, that baby would automatically be registered as an American citizen?   I think not.  And as has been maintained by some, the 14th amendment does not control and the child does not become a U.S. citizen, but remains subject to the jurisdiction of the country from whence his parents came. 

                    Some scholars will argue that the phrase "subject to the jurisdiction thereof" means as of the moment of birth and therefore it is the land on which you are born at the moment of birth.  Some legal scholars dismiss that interpretation. 

                     In drafting the 14th amendment, there is no doubt but that the fathers wished to dismantle completely the Dred Scott decision which treated Blacks as property and to make it clear that blacks born in America were citizens of the country  

                    When undocumented individuals who are subject to the jurisdiction of another country sneak into the United States for the sole purpose of having a child for which American money will be paid to them for the next 21 years, this flies in the face of the logical intent of the 14th amendment as drafted by the fathers of the constitution.

                     It would be absurd to argue that the founders of this nation ever intended anchor baby citizenship, with no guidelines or control.  The intent of the 14th amendment, according to scholars, was drafted with non-whites in mind so as to guarantee that children of all men who might have at one time been slaves be considered natural born Americans entitled to receive all benefits accorded to American citizens.

                     Conceivably, the 14th amendment  can be amended so as to more clearly define natural birth and citizenship. However, the amendment process is lengthy and cumbersome requiring a constitutional convention and ratification by the legislatures of at least 38 states.  
                     There is extensive differing of opinion as to what might be done so as to clarify the amendment dealing with citizenship. Some believe that congressional legislation might be appropriate in establishing the parameters of the birthright provision.   Certainly the matter is ripe for fresh consideration by the Supreme court.

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