The Arizona state senator who authored the state’s racist “papers please” anti-hispanic immigrant law has revealed the next step in his war on the US Constitution. In an email, Republican Russell Pearce wrote: “I also intend to push for an Arizona bill that would refuse to accept or issue a birth certificate that recognizes citizenship to those born to illegal aliens, unless one parent is a citizen."The problem for Pearce and his fellow wingnuts is the US Constitution: The 14th Amendment states with crystal clarity in 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…”
In other words, Pearce’s plan is even more blatantly unconstitutional than his first racist law. Not that this bothers Republicans or the teabaggers, who have convinced themselves that irrespective of numerous court rulings on this subject, the amendment doesn’t mean what it says.
US Representative Duncan D. Hunter, a Republican who succeeded his father as the representative from the San Diego area of California, said on April 28 that he would support deporting children who are natural-born American citizens if they’re children of illegal aliens—a US Congressman, who’s sworn an oath to uphold the US Constitution, would support deporting children who are US citizens.
Backpedalling furiously from his incredibly stupid remark, Hunter’s spokesperson told the Associated Press, “US-born children of illegal immigrants should stay with their parents unless there is a legal guardian who could take care of them." So, if the illegal immigrant parents are deported, the US citizen child would be deported, too, unless there’s a “legal guardian” they can stay with in the US.
Duncan can cry all he wants, but the fact remains that the 14th Amendment, and subsequent court rulings based on it, makes his desire to deport child US citizens who are the children of illegal immigrants completely illegal. But he and other Republicans and teabaggers have a plan: They want to pass a law stating that automatic citizenship granted by the 14th amendment doesn’t apply to children in the country illegally. That, too, would probably be unconstitutional.
They can always try to amend the US constitution to accomplish their goal, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they succeeded. The attempt would become something to be debated, but it wouldn’t be unique. For example, from January 1, 2006, New Zealand changed its laws and no longer grants automatic citizenship to children born in New Zealand unless their parents are permanent residents or citizens.
But unless there’s a change in law or an amendment to the US Constitution, all children born in the US are automatically US citizens, regardless of the status of their parents, and no matter what the wingnuts think. So, Duncan cannot deport them and Pearce cannot refuse to register their births (in fact, Arizona has no say in the matter at all, and Pearce can do nothing in state law to change that).
US Immigration—legal and not—is a complex issue, one desperately in need of calm and rational discussion and debate. The desire to limit citizenship to people with a permanent connection to the US, such as being born to US citizens and permanent residents, is not inherently racist, even if the motivation for it usually is.
But it doesn’t help achieve rational debate when Republican and teabagger politicians grandstand and display contempt for the US Constitution and the rule of law. If they’re allowed to get away with that on this issue, where will it stop?
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