SCOTUS Must Rule on Birthright Citizenship
By Joe Guzzardi
The rush to resettle thousands of Afghan evacuees and the Southwest border bungling prove one thing if nothing else – the U.S. has little interest in preserving its sovereign nation status. Illegal immigration tolerance and an eagerness to admit worldwide refugees aren’t unique to the Biden administration, however.
Since the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, Republican and Democratic administrations have shown a willingness to look the other way at illegal immigration, create dozens of unnecessary employment-based visas that have diluted the labor market, and enabled foreign nationals to take coveted U.S. jobs. During the same 56-year period, Congress has refused to make legislative changes that could, assuming the legislative bodies were determined to defend the nation, reverse history’s course.
The U.S. is traditionally the largest refugee resettlement nation, and the most illegal immigrant-tolerant. These conditions can only continue if Americans don’t feel that newcomers are displacing them.
Among its other many immigration-related failures, Congress has steadfastly refused to end or even urge a Supreme Court review on birthright citizenship, an issue which has once again surged to the forefront as a major sovereignty concern.
On the Del Rio, Texas-Mexico, border, several Haitian nationals have given birth to U.S. citizen babies, and under the bridge, 300 mothers-to-be await delivery. At Wisconsin’s Fort McCoy, Afghan mothers have delivered three babies. The newborns are, thanks to a misguided federal policy that grants automatic citizenship to anyone born on U.S. soil, American citizens. Mothers could be Disneyland tourists, Neiman Marcus shoppers, birth hotel patrons, or migrants and evacuees, all of whom have little-if-any U.S. ties. Their children are automatically citizens.
Every year, American mothers give birth to about 4 million children. In 2021, immigration officials expect 2 million aliens to enter the U.S. illegally; up to 100,000 Afghan evacuees will be resettled, and President Biden promised to lift the annual refugee cap to 125,000. Aliens, evacuees and refugees will total a record 2.25 million. Most will eventually be entitled to petition their family members from abroad, a population-busting process.
No intellectual argument can be made that birthright citizenship and chain migration are sound policies that have America’s best interests at heart. While both sides of the aisle argue, let the Supreme Court decide whether birthright citizenship is legal, an action that the court must take immediately given nonexistent border enforcement. At the heart of the debate is the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment which includes in the opening sentence: “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.” The court must rule on the “subject to the jurisdiction of…” definition. Some scholars say that the phrase essentially means anyone born in the U.S. is automatically a citizen, but critics claim that the 14th Amendment’s authors hadn’t intended to grant citizenship to every foreign national born in U.S. territory.
While Congress and advocates on both sides are stalemated, criminals have been able to take advantage of the birthright citizenship loophole. In 2019, federal officials arrested 20 people who operated businesses helping pregnant women travel to the U.S. expressly to give birth to citizen children. Chinese mothers-to-be paid between $40,000 and $80,000 each to come to California, stay in upscale dwellings and give birth. Perpetrators included the Chinese national and the website You Win USA founder Dongyuan Li, charged with visa fraud, money laundering and conspiracy. Similar schemes have been ongoing, mostly without federal intervention, in the U.S. for more than a decade.
The Birthright Citizenship Act of 2021, introduced by U.S. Rep. Brian Babin (R-Texas), would grant citizenship to any child born in the U.S. if at least one parent were either an American, a lawfully present alien or serving in the U.S. military, a reasonable approach to a critical and escalating problem. To date, only about 10 percent of House Republicans have signed on as cosponsors.
Only Canada and the U.S. among developed nations grant jus soli, the right to citizenship for anyone born on U.S. soil. Taxpayer costs to underwrite illegal immigrant births are estimated at $2.4 billion annually. With the borders wider open than ever, and Afghan evacuees arriving at unprecedented levels, the Supreme Court must intercede to help preserve sovereign America.
Joe Guzzardi is a Progressives for Immigration Reform analyst who has written about immigration for more than 30 years. Contact him at jguzzardi@pfirdc.org.
SCOTUS Must Rule on Birthright Citizenship
SCOTUS Must Rule on Birthright Citizenship
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