Repealing the 14th Amendment: Is it really about Immigration?

[gall]

So the Republicans have been kicking around this idea of repealing the 14th Amendment. They claim that the authors of the 14th Amendment didn't really intend to extend citizenship to every person born in this country, despite the clear, explicit language in that Amendment which indicates the contrary.

I, for one, don't buy it. I think there's much more to this push than outrage over "anchor-babies". I don't think its the Birthright citizenship clause that has their panties in a twist...I think its the clause which follows that they really want to do away with...

"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."

As you can see, the 14th Amendment is the sole legal force which compels the individual states to abide by the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Prior to the enactment of the 14th Amendment, individual states could (and did) pass laws which violated the Constitutional rights of citizens.

Seems pretty obvious what the party of "State's Rights" is up to. The Conservatives have a laundry list of laws they would like to pass at the State level but cannot pass because of current Constitutional protections: "Sodomy" Laws, prohibitions against inter-racial marriage, banning the practice of Islam, unwarranted search and seizure, etc, etc, etc.

Like Rahm Emmanuel said, "Never let a good crisis go to waste."

The Republicans have heeded these words well and now, I suspect, they are attempting to use the Immigration crisis to bamboozle voters into surrendering their Constitutional protections from the individual state legislatures.

The question is, will anyone fall for it?

Have you fallen for it? Or are your eyes open now?

[vaiveatoish]

I think that you are so political that you will accept anything that opposes whatever the Republicans are doing...and in that way you are supporting illegal immigration simply because you feel that Republicans support it. The problem is immigration that is changing the country in a way that we don't want and we need to find some control. The anchor baby thing is one of the problems, its a technicality that is harming the country. Something has to be done about immigration so understand that we need something more than what Obama has been doing which is nothing. I don't want millions of new voters here taking us back from women's rights, gay rights, toward gang warfare and away from the culture that the country has developed. Soon you will not be able to function in the workplace if you speak on English. If there are enough illegals in the country who don't care to be Americans it can change the way we live and in some really bad ways. Women are nothing in the Latino culture, other then punching bags and sperm vessels...watch Hispanic TV and see what the female ideal to Latin men is. Gays are abused and hunted in Latin cultures. So when liberals feel that they have to support open immigration because the republicans don't you are actually supporting a culture that has absolutely no use for liberal values. Liberals tend to not like Catholic because the Catholic church is adamant in its stance on gays. Latins are Catholics, not athiests or agnostics or Lutherans, they are Catholics totally all that comes with that. When people become political they lose their senses. Welcome.

[hillocke]

illegals are illegals... plain and simple
Have you even lived in a state that's even close to Mexico or a state that's filled with illegals? I have... Im sick and tired of illegals hopping the boarders coming over here having children so they can stay here in the US... Then they keep getting knocked up...Im tired of ILLEGALS getting better advantages then the average American..

[karlitis]

IT'S A CONSPIRACY!

Thanks you for leading me to the light!

Because we are all a bunch of idiots who you have to 'educate'.... elitist pseudo-intellectual liberals, like yourself, can bite me.

[tonibraxton]

You are not wrong. Prior to the 14th Amendment it was legal for the individual states to establish a religion, abridge free speech, ignore due process, adn reserve civil rights for only those the state judges worthy of them. And Many states did (and continued to do after the 14th amendment until the modern civil rights era)

And that is precisely what conservatives want. They are unconcerned about losing any of their rights because they believe that they will be the ones deciding who is worthy of those rights and who is not.

And it is not about anchor babies. That is a red herring that actually applies to a pretty small number of undocumented immigrant families, and is rarely done as a 'strategy' - Because it does not work - having a US born child does not protect illegal parents from deportation. But anchor babies are the bathwater they want to throw out with the Baby of our individual liberties. Because they think that individual liberties apply only to them and who they choose and are rightfully controlled only by them.

[adusa37]

You are not wrong. Prior to the 14th Amendment it was legal for the individual states to establish a religion, abridge free speech, ignore due process, adn reserve civil rights for only those the state judges worthy of them. And Many states did (and continued to do after the 14th amendment until the modern civil rights era)

And that is precisely what conservatives want. They are unconcerned about losing any of their rights because they believe that they will be the ones deciding who is worthy of those rights and who is not.

And it is not about anchor babies. That is a red herring that actually applies to a pretty small number of undocumented immigrant families, and is rarely done as a 'strategy' - Because it does not work - having a US born child does not protect illegal parents from deportation. But anchor babies are the bathwater they want to throw out with the Baby of our individual liberties. Because they think that individual liberties apply only to them and who they choose and are rightfully controlled only by them.

Are they? How come no one knows it but you?

[aenedleah10]

No, it's about repealing the 14th amendment.

[menw]

It has * everything * to do with "anchor babies".

The amendment was added in 1868. Nowhere was there any discussion of * illegal immigrants * and what status should be granted to their children.

It speaks of "permanent domicile and residence" as well as "carrying on business". * That * is the litmus test.

I say keep the amendment in place, but realize that illegal immigrants cannot, by their very definition, have the US as their "permanent domicile". Thus, even by the definition outlined in the amendment, their children are not citizens.

If a person is living under the radar, avoiding authorities in order to maintain their residence, they are not * permanent *.

[lalla3]

Fortunately, most people in this country are obviously more intelligent and better educated than you.

Are you really foolish enough to believe that the crafters of the US constitution intentionally crafted a clause to allow criminals to circumvent US law?

And, since you apparently haven't caught on to this yet... there is an entire article of the US constitution that outlines federal authority and structure.

Unless your intention was to make yourself look like a complete idiot.. you've failed horribly.

[hewlett]

Yes its about immigration and I didn't read your copy/paste rant.