U.S. Citizenship and the Fourteenth Amendment

The Fourteenth Amendment provides all people born on U.S. soil are United States Citizens. Most countries in the Western Hemisphere provide the same criteria for citizenship. Universally, there are 3 different ways in which countries provide for citizenship: Of the blood, of the soil and of the religion.

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."

Of late, babies born in the United States have been called "Anchor Babies" This means their mothers came here as undocumented individuals and had their child here so the mothers and fathers may later gain U.S. citizenship. But such is not the case, at least not immediately. The child must be 21 years old, willing and financially able to sponsor their parents before they may obtain temporary status in the United States. Some 21 year olds do not want to sponsor their parents, while some are not able to for other reasons.

Now the cry to change the Fourteen Amendment is because some women, especially from Mexico, are entering the U.S. legally in private airplanes with prepaid arrangement with medical doctors to have their child born in the United States. First, they are not undocumented women, they do enter legally! A private airplane is used because many airlines will not allow a late term pregnant woman on a commercial airline. There is no reason for USCPB to deny them entry on a private airplane as it is clear they are taking the baby back to Mexico after it is born.

It is extremely difficult and very expensive to amend the Constitution of the United States. It could not be accomplished to assure equal rights for women. The last time the Constitution was amended was to give 18 year olds the right to vote.

As a country, we denied American Indians United States citizenship under the 14th amendment because, the Supreme Court said they were members of foreign nations on our United States soil. Later, a statute was passed allowing approximately 100 United States Tribes members citizenship if they were at least 50% blood members. This created the "Tribal Card" which is still used today to determine United States citizenship of those who have been on our soil the longest.

This policy has not helped integrate American Indians and has given Tribal Lands many extra powers used today to promote gambling and other matters. The point is that by not recognizing the basic fact of birth in the United States for citizenship, many more problems have been created.

We all feel a very basic connection to the place where we are born. Ending birthright to those born here will not change the desire of individuals to come to the United States. The denial of birthright citizenship is contradictory to human nature.

Allott Immigration Law Firm specializes in all aspects of immigration law. Their team of dedicated lawyers assists clients on a worldwide basis with Citizenship & Naturalization, Form I-9 Compliance, Employer Sanctions Law, Visas, Detention & Removal Proceedings, and U.S. Passports.