In the early months of 1990, I assisted the US State Department with the evacuation of over 5,000 US citizens from the obscure West African country of Liberia as rebels closed in upon the capital city of Monrovia. I recall being surprised to learn there were so many US nationals residing in that incredibly corrupt, poverty-stricken country. Many of the evacuees were US Peace Corps volunteers, official staff and dependents of US Government operations or employees of locally operated US-owned companies. A large segment of the evacuees though, were African Liberians who had simply been born in America. Somehow, their mothers had managed to obtain a visa to visit the United States at precisely the time they were scheduled to give birth to their children, thereby receiving instant US Citizenship for their newborn child under authority of the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution. This was no accident. It was an intentional, contrived plan.

Citizens of foreign countries are very aware of the fact that the U.S. Constitution guarantees citizenship at birth to almost all individuals born in the United States or in U.S. jurisdictions, according to the legal principle of jus soli. Section 301. [8 U.S.C. 1401] states the following:

The following shall be nationals and citizens of the United States at birth: (a) a person born in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof; Certain individuals born in the United States, such as children of foreign heads of state or children of foreign diplomats, do not obtain U.S. citizenship under jus soli.)

While the US Congress is debating whether or not to allow gay marriages and searching for funding to build a fence on our US/Mexico border, thousands of people are being allowed to manipulate their way into being United States citizens simply by being born here. One can only speculate as to the number of pregnant (or soon to be) Hispanic mothers who feel pressured to cross the border into the United States to take advantage of this citizenship loophole, but the number must be very significant. In the end, it makes no difference whether or not the parents are in the United States legally or not. If their children are born here, the children become US citizens. That is the law. Then, once that happens, it is much easier for the parents to convince INS to allow THEM to remain in the country with their US citizen children. Once that door is wedged open, it is nearly impossible to close it. And once the child is born, the process of applying for (and receiving) post-natal health care, food stamps, and many other social services, all at US taxpayer expense, begins.

The dike is leaking badly and this happens to be one hole we can easily plug by a legislative change in the law even if It requires a repeal or rewrite of the 14th Amendment. Few, if any other countries grant automatic citizenship like this and there is no reason why the United States of America should do it either.

It is time for a change. Citizens of the United States must unite to convince our lawmakers that this is an issue their voters consider to be very important. You can do so by writing your congressman and telling them to repeal the 14th Amendment and by encouraging everyone you know to do the same.

These are my opinions. Do you agree, or disagree?


A READER'S COMMENTS:

Mike,
You have touched on a subject that I have complained about for years. The 14th Amendment was written and approved in order to assure that the newly freed slaves and their offspring were recognized as U.S. citizens. Obviously, that need has long since passed yet we have continued to bestow U.S. citizenship on anyone born in the U.S., despite their status as legals or illegals. This situation must be changed.and changed soon. Years ago, my uncle who lived in the Rio Grande valley of Texas told me about pregnant Mexican women who would come across the border for the sole purpose of having their children being born as "Americans".

While we need a rational system to determine citizenship by birth, the current situation under the 14th Amendment is clearly not it. I would have no problem modifying the 14th Amendment so that anyone born in the U.S. of parents who were legally and lawfully present in the U.S. are citizens. What say you?

-Mike Hawkins