On June 28 [2004], the Supreme Court decided the case of Hamdi v. Rumsfeld, holding that an American citizen confined in the United States as an enemy combatant has the right to contest his detention before a neutral decision-maker. Yaser Esam Hamdi, a Saudi, was captured by U.S. forces in Afghanistan and taken to Guantanamo. Hamdi claimed American citizenship and the right to be transferred stateside. Federal authorities moved him to naval brigs in Norfolk and Charleston, where he sits.
The Supreme Court ignored the threshold question that was before them: is Yaser Esam Hamdi an American? Writing for the majority, Justice O’Connor blandly said that Hamdi was “[b]orn an American citizen in Louisiana.” In dissent, Justice Scalia came closer to the truth, calling Hamdi “a presumed American citizen.” Hamdi was born in Louisiana, to Saudi parents briefly here because his father was working on a temporary visa for Saudi Arabia Basic Industries. While still an infant, Hamdi went home to Saudi Arabia and had nothing to do with the United States until he bore arms against U.S. forces in Afghanistan in 2001. An amicus curiae brief in his case, filed by the Center for American Unity, Friends of Immigration Law Enforcement, the National Center on Citizenship, and eight U.S. Representatives—including immigration-reform stalwart Tom Tancredo—asserts that Hamdi is not a U.S. citizen, presumed or otherwise. Maryland attorney Barnaby Zall argues persuasively that to deem Hamdi an American is to ignore the plain meaning of the 14th Amendment’s Citizenship Clause and the express intent of those who wrote and ratified it. The federal government misinterprets the Citizenship Clause as though the phrase “and subject to the jurisdiction thereof” (the jurisdiction requirement) were not there.
Despite the Court’s evasion, this is no small matter. The government’s selective misreading grants birthright citizenship to anyone (except diplomats’ children, highlighting federal inconsistency) born on American soil, no matter who his parents are. Birthright citizenship lures illegal aliens, who know a U.S.-born child is, thanks to American immigration law’s family-reunification bias, an anchor baby who will be able to sponsor his relatives for residence and citizenship. They also know that anchor babies’ mothers are not deported. In 1993, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors reported that two-thirds of births in L.A. County hospitals were to illegal aliens, mostly Mexicans. Conservative estimates of illegal-alien births here, assuming an illegal alien population of between 8.7 and 11 million, run from 287,000 to 363,000 per year.
Not only Latin Americans have figured out Uncle Sam’s birthright bonanza. South Koreans have created a birth tourism industry. As the Los Angeles Times reported in 2002, Korean tour operators fly Korean mothers into Los Angeles and other American cities, there to give birth—in Korean-owned clinics with Korean staff—to an “American.” Websites like www.birthinusa.com advertise “from birth to citizenship.” Korean chaperones help get the babies California birth certificates and U.S. passports to take home. Junior can then dodge Korea’s draft—and sponsor his family in America if they feel like moving. Pledging allegiance to the Stars and Stripes has nothing to do with it.
Federal laxity creates what Zall calls “drive-by citizenship,” debasing American citizenship by giving it to legions of aliens like Hamdi, who bear no allegiance to this country or connection other than the accident of birth here. Among other evils, this dilutes the citizenship of unquestionable Americans—children of American citizens—and encourages dual citizenship with attendant divided loyalties. Is this what those who ratified the Citizenship Clause intended?
The Citizenship Clause was drafted to prevent freed slaves from being denied citizenship because they were not citizens at birth. It overturned the Supreme Court’s Dred Scott decision, which held that even U.S.-born freedmen were not automatically citizens. Nevertheless, the jurisdiction requirement was written into the clause to ensure that birthright citizenship would not become the law of land and that allegiance would remain a vital element of citizenship.
In the 1866 Senate ratification debate, the Citizenship Clause’s proponent, Jacob Howard of Michigan, said it was
simply declaratory of what I regard as the law of the land already, that every person born within the limits of the United States, and subject to their jurisdiction, is by virtue of natural 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.
James Doolittle of Wisconsin queried Howard’s language, but not because he favored birthright citizenship. Instead he wanted it clear that Indians were excluded because they owed allegiance to their tribes. The Citizenship Clause’s drafters were careful to exclude Indians—deep-rooted in this land—from U.S. citizenship because they were not fully subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. It is inconceivable that they would countenance citizenship for Yaser Esam Hamdi just because he was born in Baton Rouge.
Pennsylvania’s Edgar Cowan discussed citizenship’s limits. “If a traveler comes here from Ethiopia, from Australia, or from Great Britain, … he has a right to the protection of the laws, but he is not a citizen in the ordinary acceptation of the word.” Lyman Trumbull of Illinois, chairman of the Judiciary Committee and a key drafter of the 14th Amendment, explained the jurisdiction requirement. “The provision is, that ‘all persons born in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens.’ That means ‘subject to the complete jurisdiction thereof.’ … What do we mean by ‘subject to the jurisdiction of the United States?’ Not owing allegiance to anybody else. That is what it means.”
Maryland’s Reverdy Johnson, the only Democrat in this Reconstruction-era debate, gave Trumbull bipartisan support. “Now all this amendment provides is, that all persons born in the United States and not subject to any foreign Power … shall be considered as citizens of the United States.” Johnson emphasized that the jurisdiction requirement meant the same as the phrase “not subject to any foreign Power” in the Civil Rights Act of 1866, passed by the same Congress that ratified the 14th Amendment. The import of the jurisdiction requirement, affirmed by its drafters’ expressed intent, is that after dealing with the special case of freedmen the Citizenship Clause confers birthright citizenship only on citizens’ children.
The Supreme Court honored the Citizenship Clause for 30 years, holding that the jurisdiction requirement’s distinction between those who do and do not owe complete allegiance to the United States is a critical test of citizenship. In The Slaughter House Cases (1873), the Court held that the jurisdiction requirement was “intended to exclude from [the Citizenship Clause’s] operation children of ministers, consuls, and citizens or subjects of foreign states born within the United States.” In Elk v. Wilkins (1884), the Court denied citizenship to John Elk, an Indian, because he did not owe complete allegiance to the United States. The jurisdiction requirement “put it beyond doubt that all persons, white or black, and whether formerly slaves or not, born or naturalized in the United States, and owing no allegiance to any alien power, should be citizens of the United States.” Justice Gray continued, “The evident meaning of [the jurisdiction requirement] is, 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.” It is impossible to square this interpretation with conferring citizenship on Hamdi or on any illegal alien’s child. And it is very hard to reconcile it with granting birthright citizenship to the children of legally resident aliens, who retain allegiance to their ancestral homelands.
Unfortunately, the Court undermined the jurisdiction requirement in United States v. Wong Kim Ark (1898) when Justice Gray, who had it right in Elk, concocted the theory that an alien in this country somehow gives his undivided allegiance to the United States and renounces all allegiance to his homeland for the duration of his residence. Gray’s Wong interpretation finds no support in the Citizenship Clause, the Senate debate, or the Court’s own precedents. It was a political expedient to avoid acknowledging that California-born children of Chinese parents legally in the United States, of whom Wong was one, were not automatically American citizens. The Court instead invented a right to citizenship for U.S.-born children of legally resident aliens. Not for the last time, the Supreme Court refused to apply the Constitution as written. Since Wong, the Court has accepted the case’s reasoning without examining it, exacerbating drive-by citizenship. With Hamdi the Court has ducked the issue again.
Fortunately, we need not await the Supreme Court’s pleasure to enforce the whole Citizenship Clause and end drive-by citizenship. Section 5 of the 14th Amendment gives enforcement power to the Congress. Three bills exercising this authority are pending in the House. The best is H.J. Res. 42, sponsored by Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, to amend the Constitution to deny citizenship to individuals born in the United States to parents who are neither U.S. citizens nor persons who owe permanent allegiance to America. Although an amendment is not necessary, Paul’s resolution is faithful to the Citizenship Clause.
Legislation enforcing the Citizenship Clause must also restore the traditional American rejection of dual citizenship. It should follow these principles:
• Children of U.S. citizens are citizens, wherever born.
• Children of an American and a foreign parent are treated as citizens until their 18th birthday. Then they must choose one citizenship; no dual nationality.
• U.S.-born children of legally resident aliens are not citizens at birth. If their parents naturalize while they are minor dependents they may naturalize with them (assuming no criminal record). Otherwise they pursue naturalization, if at all, as do other immigrants.
• U.S.-born children of illegal aliens are not citizens, period.
Mass immigration is transforming America, and Americans have very little say in it. We must regain control over who shares the privileges and duties of American citizenship. Yaser Esam Hamdi’s only chosen involvement with this nation has been fighting with the Taliban against our troops. An America that accepts him as a fellow-citizen has no respect for its own citizenship—and an America that gives citizenship away to illegal alien and birth-tourist babies drains its greatest privilege, U.S. citizenship, of value.
Phxbrd
2009-06-27 13:08:02 EST
"Ron Hamilton" <dh_ld@> wrote in message news:BMSdneB35Mts0tvXnZ2dnUVZ_ohi4p2d@earthlink.com... > The Case Against Birthright Citizenship
There is none.
Birth in the USA = Native
Native = Citizen
HTH.
Wayne
2009-06-27 13:28:18 EST
"Phxbrd" <lesliesethhammond@yahoo.com> wrote in message news:7an1vgF201pl2U1@mid.individual.net... > > "Ron Hamilton" <dh_ld@> wrote in message > news:BMSdneB35Mts0tvXnZ2dnUVZ_ohi4p2d@earthlink.com... >> The Case Against Birthright Citizenship > > > There is none. > > Birth in the USA = Native > > Native = Citizen > > HTH. > Sounds reasonable. What isn't reasonable is saying that child citizenship entitles illegal parents to stay in the US. When they are deported, the child is not prevented from staying with them. And the child is free to return to the US on his own upon reaching legal age.
Ron Hamilton
2009-06-27 13:48:14 EST
Phxbrd wrote: > "Ron Hamilton" <dh_ld@> wrote in message > news:BMSdneB35Mts0tvXnZ2dnUVZ_ohi4p2d@earthlink.com... >> The Case Against Birthright Citizenship > > > There is none.
Yes, of course there is. The current birthright citizenship regime is bad, and is not the will of the people; it was handed to us by an irrationally determined court decision. It can be fixed.
It's worth pointing out to you screwballs that nearly every country in the world that formerly had an automatic /jus/ /soli/ birthright citizenship regime like ours has severely restricted it. The roster of countries that have curtailed /jus/ /soli/ birthright citizenship reads like a Who's Who of all the countries you America-haters say we should emulate: Great Britain, France, the Netherlands, Ireland, Italy. All of them formerly had an automatic birthright citizenship regime very similar to ours, and all of them have ditched it. In general, no one born to an illegal alien in those countries is a citizen.
Ron Hamilton
2009-06-27 14:00:17 EST
Wayne wrote: > "Phxbrd" <lesliesethhammond@yahoo.com> wrote in message > news:7an1vgF201pl2U1@mid.individual.net... >> "Ron Hamilton" <dh_ld@> wrote in message >> news:BMSdneB35Mts0tvXnZ2dnUVZ_ohi4p2d@earthlink.com... >>> The Case Against Birthright Citizenship >> >> There is none. >> >> Birth in the USA = Native >> >> Native = Citizen >> >> HTH. >> > Sounds reasonable.
No, it doesn't. There is no law in the United States that specifies that that is our citizenship rule. Instead, it's based on an irrationally determined court decision, United States v. Wong Kim Ark, 169 U.S. 649 (1898).
The 14th Amendment, which the America-hating pro-illegal immigration mob like Leslie Seth Hammond (phxbrd) do not understand, and which the Supreme Court before the Wong case /DID/ understand, contains this 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.
Note that crucial clause: and subject to the jurisdiction thereof. That does *NOT* mean what the pro-illegal immigration America haters like Hammond say it does. It means subject to the _complete_ jurisdiction, meaning not owing allegiance to any other country. That is clearly established by the Senate debate over ratification of the amendment in 1866. That was also clearly understood by the Supreme Court in a couple of important cases it heard between ratification of the amendment in 1868, and the delivery of its incoherent decision in Wong in 1898. Read up on Slaughterhouse Cases (83 U.S. 36 (1873)), and especially Elk v. Wilkins (112 U.S. 94 (1884)).
The America-hating liars like Hammond are deliberately distorting the meaning of the amendment.
2009-06-27 14:00:46 EST
Phxbrd wrote: > "Ron Hamilton" <dh_ld@> wrote in message > news:BMSdneB35Mts0tvXnZ2dnUVZ_ohi4p2d@earthlink.com... >> The Case Against Birthright Citizenship > > > There is none. > > Birth in the USA = Native > > Native = Citizen > > HTH.
There are many cases against it, whether you agree with them or not.
I am definitely against Korean women coming here for the sole purpose of giving birth to an American citizen, and returning to Korea to raise the child.
The Supreme Court has never ruled on the citizenship of children born to two illegal aliens, but one day it will be forced into the situation.
It is obvious to me that a child born to two illegal Mexican citizens in The United States has Mexican citizenship.
Ron Hamilton
2009-06-27 14:13:18 EST
j*y@. wrote: > Phxbrd wrote: >> "Ron Hamilton" <dh_ld@> wrote in message >> news:BMSdneB35Mts0tvXnZ2dnUVZ_ohi4p2d@earthlink.com... >>> The Case Against Birthright Citizenship >> >> >> There is none. >> >> Birth in the USA = Native >> >> Native = Citizen >> >> HTH. > > There are many cases against it, whether you agree with them or not. > > I am definitely against Korean women coming here for the sole purpose of > giving birth to an American citizen, and returning to Korea to raise the > child.
There is an entire Korean "birth tourism" industry organized to facilitate exactly that. A lot of the motivation for it is so sons won't have to do compulsory military service in Korea, but a powerful additional motive is set the anchor here.
> > The Supreme Court has never ruled on the citizenship of children born to > two illegal aliens, but one day it will be forced into the situation.
Soon, one hopes. I have little doubt that the current court, even if the racist Sotomayor takes Souter's place, would strike down the absurd interpretation coming from Wong.
> It is obvious to me that a child born to two illegal Mexican citizens in > The United States has Mexican citizenship.
It's obvious to Mexico, too: the child is a Mexican national in the eyes of Mexico. The child directly owes complete allegiance to Mexico.
Wilson Woods
2009-06-27 14:45:08 EST
Phxbrd wrote: > "Ron Hamilton" <dh_ld@> wrote in message > news:BMSdneB35Mts0tvXnZ2dnUVZ_ohi4p2d@earthlink.com... >> The Case Against Birthright Citizenship > > > There is none.
Of course there is. Hammond knows there is, too.
To begin with, there is the clear interpretation of the phrase "subject to the jurisdiction" given by the senators who debated the amendment prior to voting on it. Sen. Lyman Trumbull, the chairman of the judiciary committee, said this:
The provision is, that ‘all persons born in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens.’ That means ‘subject to the complete jurisdiction thereof.’ What do we mean by ‘complete jurisdiction thereof?’ Not owing allegiance to anybody else. That is what it means.
Then there is the passage from Elk v. Wilkins. Regarding the citizenship clause found in section 1 of the 14th Amendment, Justice Gray wrote:
The main object of the opening sentence of the fourteenth amendment was to settle the question, upon which there had been a difference of opinion throughout the country and in this court, as to the citizenship of free negroes, (Scott v. Sandford, 19 How. 393;) and to put it beyond doubt that all persons, white or black, and whether formerly slaves or not, born or naturalized in the United States, and owing no allegiance to any alien power, should be citizens of the United States and of the state in which they reside.
This section contemplates two sources of citizenship, and two sources only: birth and naturalization. The persons declared to be citizens are 'all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof.' The evident meaning of these last words is, 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. And the words relate to the time of birth in the one case, as they do to the time of naturalization in the other. Persons not thus subject to the jurisdiction of the United States at the time of birth cannot become so afterwards, except by being naturalized, either individually, as by proceedings under the naturalization acts; or collectively, as by the force of a treaty by which foreign territory is acquired.
The court clearly understood that "subject to the jurisdiction" means something much *more* than merely having to follow the laws of the country while residing in or transiting through the country. The court also clearly understood that an infant owes allegiance wherever his parents owe theirs.
The real reason Hammond says "there is none" regarding the case against birthright citizenship is that he /wants/ a regime in which people who don't share American values can come here without restriction and fundamentally alter our national character for the worse.
Wilson Woods
2009-06-27 14:49:30 EST
Reposted; a couple of important newsgroups were inadvertently left off the first time.
Phxbrd wrote: > "Ron Hamilton" <dh_ld@> wrote in message > news:BMSdneB35Mts0tvXnZ2dnUVZ_ohi4p2d@earthlink.com... >> The Case Against Birthright Citizenship > > > There is none.
Of course there is. Hammond knows there is, too.
To begin with, there is the clear interpretation of the phrase "subject to the jurisdiction" given by the senators who debated the amendment prior to voting on it. Sen. Lyman Trumbull, the chairman of the judiciary committee, said this:
The provision is, that ‘all persons born in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens.’ That means ‘subject to the complete jurisdiction thereof.’ What do we mean by ‘complete jurisdiction thereof?’ Not owing allegiance to anybody else. That is what it means.
Then there is the passage from Elk v. Wilkins. Regarding the citizenship clause found in section 1 of the 14th Amendment, Justice Gray wrote:
The main object of the opening sentence of the fourteenth amendment was to settle the question, upon which there had been a difference of opinion throughout the country and in this court, as to the citizenship of free negroes, (Scott v. Sandford, 19 How. 393;) and to put it beyond doubt that all persons, white or black, and whether formerly slaves or not, born or naturalized in the United States, and owing no allegiance to any alien power, should be citizens of the United States and of the state in which they reside.
This section contemplates two sources of citizenship, and two sources only: birth and naturalization. The persons declared to be citizens are 'all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof.' The evident meaning of these last words is, 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. And the words relate to the time of birth in the one case, as they do to the time of naturalization in the other. Persons not thus subject to the jurisdiction of the United States at the time of birth cannot become so afterwards, except by being naturalized, either individually, as by proceedings under the naturalization acts; or collectively, as by the force of a treaty by which foreign territory is acquired.
The court clearly understood that "subject to the jurisdiction" means something much *more* than merely having to follow the laws of the country while residing in or transiting through the country. The court also clearly understood that an infant owes allegiance wherever his parents owe theirs.
The real reason Hammond says "there is none" regarding the case against birthright citizenship is that he /wants/ a regime in which people who don't share American values can come here without restriction and fundamentally alter our national character for the worse.
No_He_Can_Not
2009-06-27 16:12:35 EST
Ron Hamilton wrote: > The Case Against Birthright Citizenship > > By Howard Sutherland > > http://www.amconmag.com/2004_09_27/article.html > > On June 28 [2004], the Supreme Court decided the case > of Hamdi v. Rumsfeld, holding that an American citizen > confined in the United States as an enemy combatant has > the right to contest his detention before a neutral > decision-maker. Yaser Esam Hamdi, a Saudi, was captured > by U.S. forces in Afghanistan and taken to Guantanamo. > Hamdi claimed American citizenship and the right to be > transferred stateside. Federal authorities moved him to > naval brigs in Norfolk and Charleston, where he sits. > > The Supreme Court ignored the threshold question that > was before them: is Yaser Esam Hamdi an American? > Writing for the majority, Justice O’Connor blandly said > that Hamdi was “[b]orn an American citizen in > Louisiana.” In dissent, Justice Scalia came closer to > the truth, calling Hamdi “a presumed American citizen.” > Hamdi was born in Louisiana, to Saudi parents briefly > here because his father was working on a temporary visa > for Saudi Arabia Basic Industries. While still an > infant, Hamdi went home to Saudi Arabia and had nothing > to do with the United States until he bore arms against > U.S. forces in Afghanistan in 2001. An amicus curiae > brief in his case, filed by the Center for American > Unity, Friends of Immigration Law Enforcement, the > National Center on Citizenship, and eight U.S. > Representatives—including immigration-reform stalwart > Tom Tancredo—asserts that Hamdi is not a U.S. citizen, > presumed or otherwise. Maryland attorney Barnaby Zall > argues persuasively that to deem Hamdi an American is > to ignore the plain meaning of the 14th Amendment’s > Citizenship Clause and the express intent of those who > wrote and ratified it. The federal government > misinterprets the Citizenship Clause as though the > phrase “and subject to the jurisdiction thereof” (the > jurisdiction requirement) were not there. > > Despite the Court’s evasion, this is no small matter. > The government’s selective misreading grants birthright > citizenship to anyone (except diplomats’ children, > highlighting federal inconsistency) born on American > soil, no matter who his parents are. Birthright > citizenship lures illegal aliens, who know a U.S.-born > child is, thanks to American immigration law’s > family-reunification bias, an anchor baby who will be > able to sponsor his relatives for residence and > citizenship. They also know that anchor babies’ mothers > are not deported. In 1993, the Los Angeles County Board > of Supervisors reported that two-thirds of births in > L.A. County hospitals were to illegal aliens, mostly > Mexicans. Conservative estimates of illegal-alien > births here, assuming an illegal alien population of > between 8.7 and 11 million, run from 287,000 to 363,000 > per year. > > Not only Latin Americans have figured out Uncle Sam’s > birthright bonanza. South Koreans have created a birth > tourism industry. As the Los Angeles Times reported in > 2002, Korean tour operators fly Korean mothers into Los > Angeles and other American cities, there to give > birth—in Korean-owned clinics with Korean staff—to an > “American.” Websites like www.birthinusa.com advertise > “from birth to citizenship.” Korean chaperones help get > the babies California birth certificates and U.S. > passports to take home. Junior can then dodge Korea’s > draft—and sponsor his family in America if they feel > like moving. Pledging allegiance to the Stars and > Stripes has nothing to do with it. > > Federal laxity creates what Zall calls “drive-by > citizenship,” debasing American citizenship by giving > it to legions of aliens like Hamdi, who bear no > allegiance to this country or connection other than the > accident of birth here. Among other evils, this dilutes > the citizenship of unquestionable Americans—children of > American citizens—and encourages dual citizenship with > attendant divided loyalties. Is this what those who > ratified the Citizenship Clause intended? > > The Citizenship Clause was drafted to prevent freed > slaves from being denied citizenship because they were > not citizens at birth. It overturned the Supreme > Court’s Dred Scott decision, which held that even > U.S.-born freedmen were not automatically citizens. > Nevertheless, the jurisdiction requirement was written > into the clause to ensure that birthright citizenship > would not become the law of land and that allegiance > would remain a vital element of citizenship. > > In the 1866 Senate ratification debate, the Citizenship > Clause’s proponent, Jacob Howard of Michigan, said it was > > simply declaratory of what I regard as the law of > the land already, that every person born within the > limits of the United States, and subject to their > jurisdiction, is by virtue of natural 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. > > James Doolittle of Wisconsin queried Howard’s language, > but not because he favored birthright citizenship. > Instead he wanted it clear that Indians were excluded > because they owed allegiance to their tribes. The > Citizenship Clause’s drafters were careful to exclude > Indians—deep-rooted in this land—from U.S. citizenship > because they were not fully subject to the jurisdiction > of the United States. It is inconceivable that they > would countenance citizenship for Yaser Esam Hamdi just > because he was born in Baton Rouge. > > Pennsylvania’s Edgar Cowan discussed citizenship’s > limits. “If a traveler comes here from Ethiopia, from > Australia, or from Great Britain, … he has a right to > the protection of the laws, but he is not a citizen in > the ordinary acceptation of the word.” Lyman Trumbull > of Illinois, chairman of the Judiciary Committee and a > key drafter of the 14th Amendment, explained the > jurisdiction requirement. “The provision is, that ‘all > persons born in the United States, and subject to the > jurisdiction thereof, are citizens.’ That means > ‘subject to the complete jurisdiction thereof.’ … What > do we mean by ‘subject to the jurisdiction of the > United States?’ Not owing allegiance to anybody else. > That is what it means.” > > Maryland’s Reverdy Johnson, the only Democrat in this > Reconstruction-era debate, gave Trumbull bipartisan > support. “Now all this amendment provides is, that all > persons born in the United States and not subject to > any foreign Power … shall be considered as citizens of > the United States.” Johnson emphasized that the > jurisdiction requirement meant the same as the phrase > “not subject to any foreign Power” in the Civil Rights > Act of 1866, passed by the same Congress that ratified > the 14th Amendment. The import of the jurisdiction > requirement, affirmed by its drafters’ expressed > intent, is that after dealing with the special case of > freedmen the Citizenship Clause confers birthright > citizenship only on citizens’ children. > > The Supreme Court honored the Citizenship Clause for 30 > years, holding that the jurisdiction requirement’s > distinction between those who do and do not owe > complete allegiance to the United States is a critical > test of citizenship. In The Slaughter House Cases > (1873), the Court held that the jurisdiction > requirement was “intended to exclude from [the > Citizenship Clause’s] operation children of ministers, > consuls, and citizens or subjects of foreign states > born within the United States.” In Elk v. Wilkins > (1884), the Court denied citizenship to John Elk, an > Indian, because he did not owe complete allegiance to > the United States. The jurisdiction requirement “put it > beyond doubt that all persons, white or black, and > whether formerly slaves or not, born or naturalized in > the United States, and owing no allegiance to any alien > power, should be citizens of the United States.” > Justice Gray continued, “The evident meaning of [the > jurisdiction requirement] is, 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.” It is impossible to square this > interpretation with conferring citizenship on Hamdi or > on any illegal alien’s child. And it is very hard to > reconcile it with granting birthright citizenship to > the children of legally resident aliens, who retain > allegiance to their ancestral homelands. > > Unfortunately, the Court undermined the jurisdiction > requirement in United States v. Wong Kim Ark (1898) > when Justice Gray, who had it right in Elk, concocted > the theory that an alien in this country somehow gives > his undivided allegiance to the United States and > renounces all allegiance to his homeland for the > duration of his residence. Gray’s Wong interpretation > finds no support in the Citizenship Clause, the Senate > debate, or the Court’s own precedents. It was a > political expedient to avoid acknowledging that > California-born children of Chinese parents legally in > the United States, of whom Wong was one, were not > automatically American citizens. The Court instead > invented a right to citizenship for U.S.-born children > of legally resident aliens. Not for the last time, the > Supreme Court refused to apply the Constitution as > written. Since Wong, the Court has accepted the case’s > reasoning without examining it, exacerbating drive-by > citizenship. With Hamdi the Court has ducked the issue > again. > > Fortunately, we need not await the Supreme Court’s > pleasure to enforce the whole Citizenship Clause and > end drive-by citizenship. Section 5 of the 14th > Amendment gives enforcement power to the Congress. > Three bills exercising this authority are pending in > the House. The best is H.J. Res. 42, sponsored by Rep. > Ron Paul of Texas, to amend the Constitution to deny > citizenship to individuals born in the United States to > parents who are neither U.S. citizens nor persons who > owe permanent allegiance to America. Although an > amendment is not necessary, Paul’s resolution is > faithful to the Citizenship Clause. > > Legislation enforcing the Citizenship Clause must also > restore the traditional American rejection of dual > citizenship. It should follow these principles: > > • Children of U.S. citizens are citizens, wherever born. > > • Children of an American and a foreign parent are > treated as citizens until their 18th birthday. > Then they must choose one citizenship; no dual > nationality. > > • U.S.-born children of legally resident aliens are > not citizens at birth. If their parents > naturalize while they are minor dependents they > may naturalize with them (assuming no criminal > record). Otherwise they pursue naturalization, if > at all, as do other immigrants. > > • U.S.-born children of illegal aliens are not > citizens, period. > > Mass immigration is transforming America, and Americans > have very little say in it. We must regain control over > who shares the privileges and duties of American > citizenship. Yaser Esam Hamdi’s only chosen involvement > with this nation has been fighting with the Taliban > against our troops. An America that accepts him as a > fellow-citizen has no respect for its own > citizenship—and an America that gives citizenship away > to illegal alien and birth-tourist babies drains its > greatest privilege, U.S. citizenship, of value. well then convict that pile of shit as a traitor and hang him.