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Georgia lawmaker wants to end ‘birthright citizenship’


"U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal, a Republican candidate for governor of Georgia, has proposed changing the long-standing federal policy that automatically grants citizenship to any baby born on U.S. soil, a move opposed by immigrant rights advocates.

Supporters of Deal’s proposal say “birthright citizenship” encourages
illegal immigration and makes enforcement of immigration laws more
difficult. Opponents say the proposed law wouldn’t solve the illegal
immigration problem and goes against this country’s traditions of
welcoming immigrants.

Automatic citizenship is enshrined in the 14th Amendment of the U.S.
Constitution, which says: “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.” That
provision, ratified in 1868, was drafted with freed slaves in mind.

Deal and his supporters say the 14th Amendment wording was never meant
to automatically give citizenship to babies born to illegal
immigrants.

“This is a sensible, overdue measure that closes a clause that was
never meant to be a loophole,” said Bob Dane, spokesman for the
Federation for American Immigration Reform, which seeks tighter
immigration restrictions.

Under Deal’s proposal, babies born in the U.S. would automatically
have citizenship only if at least one of their parents is a U.S.
citizen or national, a legal permanent resident of the U.S., or
actively serving in the U.S. military.

Azadeh Shahshahani, director of the Immigrants Rights Project of the
American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia, said the proposed law “is
not cognizant with the American spirit.”

“We would stand in strong opposition to this bill as it’s in
fundamental contradiction to our nation’s long history of welcoming
immigrants and bestowing inalienable rights” on all people born here,
regardless of the circumstances of their birth, she said.

Supporters of the bill say automatic citizenship provides an incentive
for women to risk coming to the country illegally. They call U.S.-born
children of illegal immigrants “anchor babies” because, when they
become adults, the children can sponsor their parents for legal
permanent residency.

“Coming into the country for the express purpose of having a child in
order to anchor that child and yourself is, in effect, gaming the
system,” Dane said.

Lisa Navarrete, vice president of the National Council of La Raza, a
Hispanic advocacy group, said the proposed law wouldn’t stem illegal
immigration and would make the problem worse because not only would
illegal immigrants be undocumented, their American-born children would
be too.

“The worst part of it is you end up with potentially millions of
children who are stateless, who were born here and have no ties to any
other country, yet they’re not considered citizens or part of the
United States,” she said.

Roy Beck, president of NumbersUSA, a group that favors restricting
immigration, said the policy of granting automatic citizenship to
people born here is “out of sync with the modern world.” He and Deal
said that the U.S. is one of the few wealthy industrialized nations
that still allows birthright citizenship.

Deal, who has submitted his bill to the House Judiciary Committee,
said he’s not optimistic about it becoming law this year unless it is
tacked onto another bill.

“I think the current makeup of the Congress is such that this will
never get a hearing and will never be an issue that we get a chance to
vote on,” he said. “But I think it’s important to keep the issues that
are part of the immigration problem alive.”

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/met...ship_bill.html