Republican Sens. Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Rand Paul of Kentucky are renewing their campaign to end birthright citizenship following the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision upholding the practice. Both lawmakers are now advocating for a constitutional amendment that would limit automatic citizenship for children born in the United States.
Amending the Constitution, however, presents a steep challenge. Such a proposal must secure the support of two-thirds of both the House and Senate before it can be sent to the states for ratification. That level of bipartisan backing is widely viewed as unlikely, given that most Democrats and a number of pro-business Republicans support broad immigration policies.
Cotton argued that the Constitution was never meant to grant citizenship to the children of those who entered the country illegally and urged lawmakers to approve his proposed Constitutional Citizenship Act.
“Birthright citizenship was never intended to benefit illegal immigrants,” Cotton said, calling on Congress to pass his “Constitutional Citizenship Act to ensure only the children of those here lawfully are granted citizenship.”
Under Cotton’s proposal, children born to illegal immigrants, terrorists, and foreign intelligence operatives would not qualify for automatic U.S. citizenship.
“There is no constitutional right for illegal aliens to cross the border to gain citizenship for their children. Granting birthright citizenship to illegal aliens has contributed to the highest levels of illegal immigration in history. Fixing this will help reduce the damage from Joe Biden’s catastrophic border crisis,” he added in his July 15 press release.
The legislation would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to specify that birthright citizenship does not apply to children whose parents are in the country unlawfully, are present as foreign diplomats, or are participating in hostile operations against the United States. The measure is co-sponsored by Republican Sens. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota, Bill Hagerty of Tennessee, and Bernie Moreno of Ohio.
Paul is pursuing a separate approach, introducing his own proposal to eliminate automatic birthright citizenship through a constitutional amendment.
The Kentucky senator has filed a Joint Resolution that would amend the Constitution to restrict U.S. citizenship and end the current interpretation of birthright citizenship.
“Under current interpretations of American law, anyone born on American soil automatically becomes a U.S. citizen, regardless of whether the parent was here legally or not,” Paul wrote on X. “This is wrong and not at all the intent of those who wrote the 14th Amendment.”
The debate centers on the 14th Amendment, which was ratified in 1868 following the Civil War. Originalist legal scholars generally contend that its citizenship clause was intended to guarantee citizenship to the children of formerly enslaved people, while others argue that the amendment extends that protection to everyone born on U.S. soil.
“We are a country filled with immigrants, and legal immigration is valuable and should be protected,” Paul continued. “But we are also a country whose borders have been too open and our generosity exploited too often. President Trump has moved to seal our border from illegal immigrants more than any other president.”
Paul said he believes citizenship should be reserved for the children of American citizens and legal residents, noting that he has advocated for such changes for years.
“I have supported protecting birthright citizenship from the beginning of my tenure in the Senate, when I cosponsored the Birthright Citizenship Act of 2011, and now I am proposing an amendment to protect United States citizenship in case the Supreme Court fails to address this issue correctly,” he wrote.
{Matzav.com}
Pregnant non-American women travel to America when they’re due to give birth so that their children automatically be given birthright citizenship.