Over the past several decades, the amount of “anchor babies,” or children born to undocumented immigrants that help the family stay in the United States, has drawn a lot of criticism.
One of the ways proposed to fix this is to rethink the American citizenship system, and remove or restructure the policies that grant people citizenships based on where they are born. Such a policy should warrant considerable concern from the Millennial Generation – people born between 1982 and 2003 – seeing as 11% of us are born to at least one immigrant parent, according to the Millennial Generation Research.
Birthright citizenship, or the policy that grants automatic U.S. citizenship to those born on U.S. soil, has been a part of U.S. policy for generations. As the population of the United States increases and available resources worldwide decrease, it is important for DU students to take initiative within government to help progress pragmatic choices that would ultimately affect us.
Revoking a Constitutional right, something that has helped our nation become what it is today, would be a fatal mistake. By being born in this country, the children whose parents are not citizens irrefutably influence our society. They grow in this country, believe in this country and hold the values of this country. They have opportunities their parents didn’t have. They, along with the rest of their generation – are this country.
The following reasons will help explain why removing automatic citizenship by birth would be regressing: it would inflict irreversible wounds on American society, nothing would be done to improve immigration and it would fundamentally go against the basis of American life: the Constitution.
First — Abolishing birthright citizenship would take away the citizenship of approximately 300 million natural born citizens in America today who have immigrant parents.
“One little-known fact about the U.S. Immigration laws is that the government often deports citizens by mistake,” noted Margaret Stock from the Immigration Policy Center. “These are often the underprivileged, mentally-ill, and uneducated who are unable to pose a sufficient defense.”
This problem would only be exacerbated if there were no more birthright citizens, because there would no longer be a federal obligation to these people that is provided through citizenship.
The Leadership Council for Civil Rights warned Arizona lawmakers in March 2011 that “Not having automatic citizenship creates a caste system with potentially millions of natural-born Americans being treated as somehow less-than-entitled to the equal protection that our nation has struggled so hard to guarantee.” We, as the future leaders of America, cannot allow the fear of illegal immigration to destroy the fibers of American society.
Second — Abolition does nothing for immigration. The proponents of Birthright repeal claim that if we end the ability to create “anchor babies,” then illegal immigration will slow down. This is fundamentally false. The primary hole in this claim is that immigrants come here for jobs; the correlation can be seen by the trending economy.
Jacobson of Politifact.com pointed out that after the recession struck in late 2002, immigration levels dropped by one third. Then in 2006, just before the relapse into recession, the numbers dropped again. The flow of immigrants into this country is directly related to our economy, not our citizenship. By revoking this right, almost 400,000 children a year born to legal residents in the U.S. would be considered illegal.
“We could see the numbers jump from 11 million now, to 16 million in 2050” mentioned Arizona Central in March 2010. Abolishing birthright citizenship would do nothing to help us in our battle against illegal immigration.
And, finally — birthright citizenship is a constitutional right. Section 1 of the 14th amendment clearly states, “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.”
After the Civil War, opponents of the 14th amendment saw African Americans as “unfit” for citizenship. For many years, they indignantly fought the amendment. Now, we see racial prejudice and ignorant fear again threatening our rights. The second we start laying down our rights because of fear, we lose what it means to be American. Our constitution guarantees that all people born in the United States receive citizenship. To revoke or change this right would entail changing the constitution.
Because “all men are created equal,” it is imperative that the current system of birthright citizenship remain unchanged. This is not only because it is unpragmatic in terms of social, political and economic policy, but also because any inimaginable alternatives would irrefutably create a caste system of increased corruption and reduced freedom. Because we would live with the unintended consequences of such legislation, it is best to consider all the possible realities before implementing any radical change.
