Illegal Immigration Debate Continues at RNC Meetings
MINNEAPOLIS–
Heated debate on illegal immigration continued at the RNC’s platform drafting committee meetings today. An amendment was proposed to deny citizenship to children born to illegal immigrants in the United States.
Kendal Unruh, a delegate from Colorado proposed the amendment and she introduced herself by saying she was from staunch illegal immigrant foe and former presidential candidate, Tom Tancredo’s district. She said that illegal immigration is the “number one issue” to the people in Colorado she represents and that the problem “breaks the back” of the health care system in her state.
Fierce debate broke out among the delegates when many saw this as unconstitutional and would mean changing the 14th amendment of the constitution, which states, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States. . .are citizens of the United States.” Charles Mifsud, a delegate from Ohio said he was in favor of a crackdown of illegal immigration, but opposed the amendment because “anchor babies” represent the “symptom not the problem,” which he sees as securing the border. The term anchor baby is a controversial expression that refers to illegal immigrants who give birth to babies in the United States and are then “anchored” to this country.
In a more colorful moment of the proceedings, Mississippi Governor and committee member Haley Barbour pointed out that John McCain does not support denying children born in this country citizenship and that he came here to elect John McCain president, “I want to give him a platform he can run on. I don’t want to stick my finger in his eye.”
In response, Sandra McDade from Louisiana said she was not trying to stick her finger in John McCain’s eye, but was “aiming for a little higher” and then tapped her head insisting that by adopting this amendment they would be sending a strong message to their candidate. She called on her fellow delegates to approve the amendment, “We don’t have to be politically correct. We are Republicans!”
Other delegates expressed concern they would have to bring their passport or dig up their birth certificates before going to the hospital to give birth.
David Chung, a delegate from Iowa adamantly supported the amendment saying that the very act of crossing the border illegally makes illegal immigrants “invaders” and their children should not be afforded the rights of citizenship.
After the heated debate, the amendment failed, but the topic came up later when the question of counting illegal immigrants in the census came up.
Kris Kobach, a delegate from Kansas proposed an amendment that would eliminate the counting of illegal immigrants in the 2010 census. The delegates were split almost entirely in half with many delegates supporting only counting legal residents in the census, but the other half were concerned that by only counting legal immigrants that local governments and health care and education services in the country would be totally overwhelmed. Many of these services rely on census data to function and the amendment ended up failing.
done
Tags: Charles Mifsud, David Chung, john mccain, Kendal Unruh, Kris Kobach, Sandra McDade
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You don’t have to have an constitutional amendment re anchor babies to achieve the desired result.
Just pass an immigration law stating that anyone born in the USA who wants to sponsor in family from abroad, must have one legal American parent when they were born, and no parent who has broken our immigration laws. You just do away with the incentive. Illegals will not come here to produce babies so that they can have their kids make them legal.
I think that when Republicans lose their sense of human charity entirely they become the “downright mean” America we heard so much about this year. We can solve our problems, even illegal immigration, without rewriting the Constitution literally. Haven’t we got enough problems with judicial undermining already? We talk big about federalism and constitutional constructionists but then this type of talk belies that spirit. Leave the 14th amendment alone and find another solution.
Even, if our Federal government continues to keep its head in the sand, its our STATE and LOCAL governments Job to enforce our LAWs and yes INCLUDING every AMERICAN citizen (ALL RACES) to keep out Illegal Aliens from OUR Country.
Tell your Government you are tired and want them out and the business that hire the illegals held accountable.
http://www.numbersusa.com and http://capwiz.com/proenglish/home/ and http://www.capsweb.org
It seems to me that the only you can make an act legal out an act that is illegal is to make the act legal. Hence there would have to be no such thing as illegal immigration. Further in order to say that the constitution would sanction the birth of a child from illegal invaders, is to say that the constitution provides for lawbrerakers to use the law against law abiders. I believe that the founding fathers had no intentions to sanction any illegal acts against this country or countrymen period. In the case of birth right citizenship I believe that it was crafted to correct the inequities of slavery. Remember the 13th amendment freed the slaves and its companion 14th amendment corrected their status by granting them birth right citizenship. End of story.
THERE WILL BE NO AMNESTY!!!
OUR ACCEPTABLE IMMIGRATION REFORM
#1. Secure the Border!!!
#2. Mandate E-Verify for ALL Employees!!!
#3. Mandate E-Verify for ANY Benefit!!!
#4. Stop the Underground Economy!!!
#5. End Birthright Citizenship for Illegals!!!
……and make it retroactive!!!
#6. End Chain Migration!!!
#7. Make English our Official Language!!!
#8. Cut Off Federal Funds to Sanctuary Cities!!
NOTHING MORE!!! NOTHING LESS!!!
It seems to me that the only way you can make an act legal out an act that is illegal is to make the act legal. Hence there would have to be no such thing as illegal immigration. Further in order to say that the constitution would sanction the birth of a child from illegal invaders, is to say that the constitution provides for lawbrerakers to use the law against law abiders. I believe that the founding fathers had no intentions to sanction any illegal acts against this country or countrymen period. In the case of birth right citizenship I believe that it was crafted to correct the inequities of slavery. Remember the 13th amendment freed the slaves and its companion 14th amendment corrected their status by granting them birth right citizenship. End of story.
Personally I believe if you break the law you go to jail, all legal Americans do. So why shouldn’t Illegals be jail the deported. If criminals then keep them locked up. Stop letting them back out on our streets and stop harboring them. Why should a wife and mother lose her entire family because of illegals who are harbored? Why should a woman be raped and end up D.O.A. by illegals? Why do we need more criminals and yes there are good guys but the good ones are still criminals as they are breaking our laws. My daughter works with two and called INS to report them as one has threatened her and that was a month ago, they are both still there. If you are saling illegal drugs you go to jail because they are illegal, if you rob a bank you go to jail becaus it is illegal and if you sneak into our country it is illegal and you should go to jail and be deported. If you have babies in the U.S. then you make a choise the child stays and goes into foster care or it goes with you to your home but if you are illegal you go.
Lol, Republicans are losing it. “We don’t have to be politically correct. We are Republicans!”. Their conscience. And once they lose that, they’ll lose Everything. Some of them really believe that becoming as mean as possible is constructive. It isn’t, not even for themselves.
I think the fourteenth amendment should be read in it’s entirety, and enforced:
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.
Get it?…and subject to the jurisdiction thereof…
Children born to tourists from other countries, ambassadors.. do not qualify, and babies born to illegal immigrants do not qualify either.
We do not have to rewrite the constitution. A liberal supreme court about 40 years ago gave the interpretation that is used now and all it would take is another supreme court decision to overturn it.
Had this amendment been allowed in the platform, it would have helped to get the issue before the supreme court. IMO, the illegals and their sympathizers do not seem to want that.
The reality is there IS NOT enough resources, jobs, energy etc. to go around in America. The U.S pie is finite and getting smaller all the time. America cannot support the entire world. It has done nothing to take care of all of its native born citizens. Why should we keep squeezing the middle-class and the poor? Something has got to give. Rich people keep talking their garbage about hatred and compassion yet they are the greedy worthless class that is fueling all of this misery. The economy has crashed from their greed. It is time to remove them from their rule. America is NOT a democracy anymore.
Bettbb: I agree with your comment.
This is the only country with flawed law allowing automatic citizenship when born here.
This is the reason Republicans will lose this election. They are adopting such a hard-line policy and in the process are offending many American Citizens. The Republicans need to realize that you can’t tear people down to win elections. It has been done to gays for years. It is now being done to Hispanics. It is going to be a rude awaking when the Republican Party finally realizes how important the minority (not just Hispanics) vote have become. The Africian American vote has become a large voting bloc in the deep south and the Hispanic vote is becoming a large voting bloc in the Southwest. This is important because of how the electoral college is setup-by needing 270 electoral votes to win. And the Republican Party is becoming less attractive to these large minority populations. Every state is becoming more important to both parties. The Southwest will play a major role in deciding who will be the president in 2008. President Bush was smart enough to understand how important it was/is to reach out to Hispanic voters.. It now appears that all his hard work will be lost..Times are changing and when people don’t accept change they get left behind. I am an Independent voter and will vote Democratic on this one issue. I agree that immigration is a problem; however, there is a respectful way to deal with it.
[...] Illegal Immigration Debate Continues at RNC Meetings posted on August 28, 2008 at 3:35 am [...]
One way to look fair is to BE fair. The party platform looks mean-spirited if illegals are the only target of law enforcement. The magnets, employers, must begin to face harsh penalties that include incarceration when hiring illegal aliens. And when arrested, illegals should be allowed to keep their dignity though the deportation process that is, again, fair, quick, and humane, and that makes allowances to include families in the return to their homeland.
It might also be helpful to develop plans that assist poorer countries to broaden their opportunities for their own people. Not necessarily money, but incentives, training, even exchange programs that bolster our reputation and credibility by showing respect to our neighbors.
This country is under siege, and if illegal (and legal) immigration is left unchecked we face a crippling overpopulation that will overwhelm limited resourses. That, too, must be made abundantly clear. What kind of America do we want in 40 years? Prospering and self-sustaining, or crowded, hungry, divided, and angry.
If these RNC committee members are incapable of creative problem solving to at once show support for their candidate while still making a case for a strongly held philosophy in the platform, I suggest we need new committee members for the job.
The 14th amendment to the U.S. Constitution already makes it illegal for the children of aliens to receive citizenship. A suit needs to be filed against the Federal government to enforce the 14th Amendment.
“Every person born within the limits of the United States, and subject to their jurisdiction, is by virtue of natural law and national law a citizen of the United States. This will not, of course, include persons born in the United States who are foreigners, aliens, who belong to the families of ambassadors or foreign ministers accredited to the Government of the United States, but will include every other class of persons.”
Senator Jacob Howard, co-author of its citizenship clause, in 1866
This understanding was reaffirmed by Senator Edward Cowan, who stated:
“A foreigner in the United States] has a right to the protection of the laws; but he is not a citizen in the ordinary acceptance of the word…”
Thank you, Bobbie! I was hoping someone pointed that out.
Curious how the reporter left that one “small” bit of info out of the story, isn’t it?
“AND SUBJECT TO THE JURISDICTION THEREOF”….
How this amendment was EVER interpreted to include people who sneak over our border and drop a baby is beyond me.
Do your research, people. The GREAT majority of other countries require some kind of legal residence.
Wake up, already.
This is an invasion.
I don’t know why this discussion needs to take place. The law states they are illegals and are not welcome here. If you disagree, change the law and stop interpreting it according to your personnal convenience.
The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution reads in part:
“All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and the State wherein they reside.”
Babies born to illegal alien mothers within U.S. borders are called anchor babies because under the 1965 immigration Act, they act as an anchor that pulls the illegal alien mother and eventually a host of other relatives into permanent U.S. residency. (Jackpot babies is another term).
The 14th Amendment was ratified in 1868 to protect the rights of native-born Black Americans, whose rights were being denied as recently-freed slaves. In 1866, Senator Jacob Howard clearly spelled out the intent of the 14th Amendment by writing:
“Every person born within the limits of the United States, and subject to their jurisdiction, is by virtue of natural law and national law a citizen of the United States. This will not, of course, include persons born in the United States who are foreigners, aliens, who belong to the families of ambassadors or foreign ministers accredited to the Government of the United States, but will include every other class of persons. It settles the great question of citizenship and removes all doubt as to what persons are or are not citizens of the United States. This has long been a great desideratum in the jurisprudence and legislation of this country.”
The original intent of the 14th Amendment was clearly not to facilitate illegal aliens defying U.S. law at taxpayer expense. Current estimates indicate there may be over 300,000 anchor babies born each year in the U.S., thus causing illegal alien mothers to add more to the U.S. population each year than immigration from all sources in an average year before 1965.
The correct interpretation of the 14th Amendment is that an illegal alien mother is subject to the jurisdiction of her native country, as is her baby.
Over a century ago, the Supreme Court correctly confirmed this restricted interpretation of citizenship in the so-called ‘Slaughter-House cases’ [83 US 36 (1873)] and in [112 US 94 (1884)]. In Elk v.Wilkins, the phrase ’subject to its jurisdiction’ excluded from its operation ‘children of ministers, consuls, and citizens of foreign states born within the United States.’ In Elk, the American Indian claimant was considered not an American citizen because the law required him to be ‘not merely subject in some respect or degree to the jurisdiction of the United States, but completely subject to their political jurisdiction and owing them direct and immediate allegiance.’
Congress subsequently passed a special act to grant full citizenship to American Indians, who were not citizens even through they were born within the borders of the United States. The Citizens Act of 1924, codified in 8USCSß1401, provides that:
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;
(b) a person born in the United States to a member of an Indian, Eskimo, Aleutian, or other aboriginal tribe.
American citizens must be wary of elected politicians voting to illegally extend our generous social benefits to illegal aliens and other criminals.
Get serious. We don’t need another bunch of laws to cure the illegal immagration problem. Start enforcing the I-9’s that every employer has to maintian in their records. Stop giving free housing, free medical, food stamps and so on to illegals. Soon they will stop coming or starve.
This GOP needs to get its rear in gear. The conservatives of today are a joke. More left leaning than anyone. All that needs to happen now is Lefty McCain pick Lieberman for VP and then we all might as well vote Dem
might as well put Obama in for 08 so Romney can win in 2012 and we can have a REAL Republican
Deport the illegal parents, and they will take their “anchor babies” with them.
It’s kind of simple. Enforce the laws on the books. We allowed automatic citizenship because we needed the people back in the 1800s for all the expansion and development going on. The law is fine, if the other immigration laws are followed, which they’re not.
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This debate should have been over years ago. I certainly doubt that when the 14th amendment was proposed on June 13, 1866, and then was ratified on July 9, 1868 that the writers expected that the statement “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 they would have ever imagined that such a large influx of illegal immigration would use that law to steal from this country. I think it is safe to assume that they were focused on building a great country and not a country being taken advantage of by a bunch of thieves! I think is would be totally appropriate to change the US Constitution to specify that only children born by either U.S. Citizens or legal immigrants can be considered citizens of the United States. Education and medical care for anchor babies and their illegal immigrant parents costs this country tens of billions of dollars a year not to mention the billions of money the US economy loses by illegal immigrants sending most of that money back to Mexico.
Bobbie McAuliffe …You are absolutely right!!!
Speaking as someone who has LEGALLY gone through the entire immigration process for my Scottish husband and step son, using my own money, working 3 jobs at one point, to accomplish the LEGAL end result of residency, I cannot stand or understand, anyone who is lazy, ignorant, and pathetic enough to have “anchor babies” or enter this country illegally. If I can do it (without a lawyer, I might add) anyone with a grasp of the English language, ability to read and write, as well as a steady income has the ability to immigrate or sponsor an immigrant to this country. I have no sympathy or compassion for those who do this illegally and cause the rest of us, hardworking, law abiding citizens and legal immigrants so much grief. No soft touches on this issue!
Sdfsdf and all the other holier than thou people calling the US mean for wanting to enforce immigration laws. How is it mean to want everyone the right to become a US citizen “legally”? Is it not “mean” for those illegal immigrants to jump in front of those trying to come here legally? Is it not “mean” for illegal immigrants to take advantage of services paid for by hard working US tax payers? Did you know that in California alone illegal immigration cost over $15 billion a year in health care, education and incarceration. That doesn’t even take into account the amount stolen by illegal immigrant identity thieves stealing social security numbers and collecting social security, welfare and unemployment benefits. So you tell me….what is “mean”?
What needs to happen is that each state should send a bill to the federal government every year for their state’s cost in dealing with illegal immigration. including health care, education and incarceration and then add another 10% to help make up for those costs that cannot be tracked efficiently. Then maybe…just maybe…the liberals in congress will try and help the Republicans fix the system.
Joana…don’t forget, those “rich people” pay for most of this country’s taxes. Without the “rich people” in the US, who is going to create jobs for us “middle class” and uneducated “poor people”? If you want to go on that tangent, the poor and middle class pay for a very small percentage of, what you call, the “US pie” than do the “rich people” .
I wonder how Mexico views illegal immigration in their country. If I lived in Central America and wanted a better life and figured I could find that life in Mexico, I wonder how the Mexican government would handle my illegal immigration?
[...] After approving their election platform last night, RNC members came together again today to vote on a new primary system for 2012. [...]
I think something that would seriously curtail illegal immigration would be to seriously penalize companies that hire illegal immigration. The laws are already there just not enforced. They should adapt laws saying that any company caught hiring immigrants without a real work visa, and one that can be verified prior to service, will be fined $10,000 per illegal immigrant hired. On the second offense, the company should lose its license for 1 year plus be fined $20,000 per illegal immigrant. If after a year and the license is regained, if there is another violation “ever” then they lose their license for “ever” and the owner(s) of that business pay a fine of $1 million. I think if a company can be liable for $60 million for not stopping a hostile work environment (see Rizkalla & lssa v. Federal Express) If the illegal immigrants can’t find the work then maybe they will get a visa and work legally. They can then pay taxes like the rest of us and finally be legal.
ARE YOU KIDDING ME?
My God, shouldn’t there be a test to see if any of these people actually read the Constitution or comprehend it? The “gist” was get government out of our hair people. Why does GOP stand for again Griping Old People?
This is why many have left the GOP. Hipanisteria, sad angry, ugly Americans with nothing to do unless they are menacing and interfering with someone else.
Janet Fitz…The reason people have left the GOP is because they are really liberals that like letting things like this happen to this country and the true Republicans don’t want to let it happen.
This doesn’t change.. it is known by McCain, and it should be the way it is. Don’t lay that cost on the American People, and don’t continue to allow any thought of anchor babies to continue. Support the American People and the American Taxpayers.
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http://www.theamericanresistance.com/issues/anchor_babies.html
The 14th Amendment was ratified in 1868 to protect the rights of native-born Black Americans, whose rights were being denied as recently-freed slaves. In 1866, Senator Jacob Howard clearly spelled out the intent of the 14th Amendment by writing:
“Every person born within the limits of the United States, and subject to their jurisdiction, is by virtue of natural law and national law a citizen of the United States. This will not, of course, include persons born in the United States who are foreigners, aliens, who belong to the families of ambassadors or foreign ministers accredited to the Government of the United States, but will include every other class of persons. It settles the great question of citizenship and removes all doubt as to what persons are or are not citizens of the United States. This has long been a great desideratum in the jurisprudence and legislation of this country.”