Citizenship
Should it be a birthright? In a sense of casting a vote, that is. Should voting be a birthright?
0
-
quote:U.S. Constitution: Fourteenth Amendment
Section. 1. 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.
As most of us know, the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution was enacted after the War Between the States to grant full citizenship under the law to all former slaves and their descendents. The amendment has long since accomplished this and is no longer needed for that purpose. However, I am reluctant to favor deleting or changing section 1 of the amendment. This is one of my reasons:
Once upon a time if I needed to prove my citizenship, I could show my driver's license, military identification card or social security card and I was a proved citizen. Then as time went by and counterfeiting became a fine art, the acceptable document was my birth certificate. If there was a doubt about the certificate, it could be checked in Montgomery, Alabama. That's about it. I'm out of paperwork and proof of citizenship. The only claim I have to United States citizenship is the fact that I was born here.
How do I prove my citizenship without the Fourteenth Amendment? I can prove my parents were born in Alabama, but if that doesn't prove citizenship I'm right back where I started. I can't go back too many generations until I reach a point where they were subjects of the Crown and not United States citizens.
I could probably pass the citizenship test and become a naturalized citizen, but what is my guarantee I would be allowed to stay in this country and take the test?
Repealing Section one of the Fourteenth Amendment would probably go a long way toward solving the illegal immigration problem, but I can't shake the feeling I would be taking myself out with the target.0 -
Went for my citizenship test last week,passed and got all the questions right.Proudly went to the naturalisation eyesterday.Very very pleased with myself.Only I got annoyed about was three russians whoo sat in fron of me only one coul speak any English,the chinese to my right couldnt speak any english.none of them sng the anthem or soke the Oath of nor the pledge of allegiance.Also the part of the ceromony that told every one there voting rights and the way to go about was not just in English but cantoneese,taiwan and spanish.Dont seem right to me.But any way I am now a very proud american. 0 -
JamesRK: I hear you. Lots of things can not be proven except through affidavits, even in our day to day affairs. Given this fact of life, the burden of proof rests with the individual. I can live with that. 0 -
James- US Law defines citizen- see http://www.vlex.us/codes/section/2300-1007&desc_12.03.01&docum_19271800 Not just the constition. If you can show you were born in the US, your'e a citizen. 0 -
quote:Originally posted by 11b6r
James- US Law defines citizen- see http://www.vlex.us/codes/section/2300-1007&desc_12.03.01&docum_19271800 Not just the constition. If you can show you were born in the US, your'e a citizen.
Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. There is a move afoot to change the Constitution and the law. I've heard a few Senators and several Representatives talking about changing the definition of a citizen to exclude simply being born in the United States. My only claim, and I suspect most of our claims, to citizenship is from being born here. When that no longer qualifies us as citizens, are we still citizens? I don't know how you could go about writing a new Amendment or Law which would deprive Jose Gonzales, born in the United States, of his citizenship without also depriving me of mine. The law must be written very carefully, and then what will the courts do with it? Until I have more information, I'll have to be against this idea.0 -
RFID chips implanted at birth.
DIdn't Pres. Clinton recommend the National Identification Card during a State of the Union Address once?0 -
11b6r, these changes are aimed at foreign nationals who enter the United States, legally or otherwise, for the purpose of having a baby in the United States, who is automatically a citizen by virtue of birth. These babies are known as "Anchor Babies". The mother and father of the anchor baby now have a better claim to remain in the United States because a member of their immediate family is a United States citizen. I guess you could call it a "loophole" in immigration law. I agree the loophole needs to be plugged, but I would prefer a plug that doesn't make me a "man without a country". 0 -
Seriously, why can't they just get rid of the loophole. Baby can stay if it wants to, or comeback someday, but mama and papa got to go.
Dickie Durbin is protecting one of these anchor mama's in the Chicago Suburbs. She's held up in some church and Senator Dick has made it known not to deport her.0 -
quote:Originally posted by Captplaid
RFID chips implanted at birth.
DIdn't Pres. Clinton recommend the National Identification Card during a State of the Union Address once?
That's a different idea I don't like. Something about the "Let me see your Papers" routine doesn't sit well with me.
Under the Constitution and Law as it is now written, the "anchor baby" would qualify for the "National Identification Card", and the parents would be "resident aliens". It wouldn't do anything about the back door to citizenship.0 -
My opinion of Dick Durbin aside, I have to say he was named right. [:D] 0 -
Plus couldn't the 14th Admenment be used in the defense of the Second Admendment? 0 -
Understand. Think the US is one of the few places that does this for birth of child of foreign national while here. My English MIL was born is South Africa- daughter of British soldier and British wife. She is not African, but British. 0
Please sign in to leave a comment.
Comments
12 comments