The Role Of Birthright Citizenship In The United States

The Center for Immigration Studies took a worldwide look in 2010 and found that "only 30 of the world's 194 countries grant automatic citizenship to children born to illegal aliens” (see Fig. 1).

Another controversial assumption made by advocates who want to see a change in birthright citizenship is that unauthorized immigrants and their U.S. born children place a drain on many social resources. When an unauthorized immigrant has a child born in the U.S., that child has access to all the social resources that U.S. children born to legal citizens are entitled to. It is believed that undocumented immigrants do not pay taxes and come to America with the sole intentions of living on welfare. Evidence provided by the Social Security Administration, contends that there are taxes that cannot be matched to workers’ names and social security numbers. This is also known as a “suspense file” and it has grown by twenty billion dollars in recent years. Migrants and undocumented immigrants contribute more in taxes and social contributions than they will ever receive in individual benefits (Van Hook and Fix 2010). Immigrants earn about $240 billion a year, they pay about $90 billion a year in taxes but only use roughly $5 billion in public benefits (Van Hook and Fix 2010). In

While living illegally in the U.S., their children that are born here are considered citizens and are eligible for social economic programs. According to a report from the Federation for American Immigration Reform, “Many immigrant families get welfare through the eligibility of their U.S. citizen children. It is also important to realize that even when immigrants are ineligible for federal welfare programs, the burden of their support is simply shifted over to state and local welfare agencies.”(1-2). Trying to solve such a widespread problem has been a major goal of the U.S. congress since before the welfare reform bill of 1996. In his column, Ron Paul says, “Amnesty for illegal immigrants is not the answer. Millions of people who broke the law by entering, staying, and working in our country illegally should not be rewarded with a visa. Why should lawbreakers obtain a free pass, while those seeking to immigrate legally face years of paperwork and long waits for a visa?”(1).

A big issue that surrounds the United States today is whether or not babies born on United States soil are to be considered full-fledged citizens or not, regardless of the family’s recent migration into the United States. The children born in the United States to illegal alien mothers are often referred to as "anchor babies”. Under current practice, these children are United States citizens at birth, simply because they were born on United States soil. They are called anchor babies because, as United States citizens, they become eligible to sponsor their relatives when they turn 21 years of age, thus becoming the legal United States "anchor" for an extended immigrant family (Shopper). Thus, the United States born children of illegal aliens not only represent additional U.S. population growth, but also act as anchors to eventually pull a large number of extended family members into the country legally; moreover, a whole industry has built up around the United States system of birthright citizenship, thousands of pregnant women who are about to deliver come to the United States each year from countries as far away as South Korea and as near as Mexico so that they can give birth on U.S. soil (Anchor Babies, NumbersUSA).The original intent of the 14th Amendment was clearly not considering illegal aliens going around the United States laws. Estimates indicate there may be over 300,000 anchor babies born each year in the United States; overall, causing illegal alien mothers to add

In the past few years a dispute has risen in the middle of the controversy about illegal immigration and border security. Are the children of illegal immigrants U.S. citizens? This a question that has provoked intense arguments and various attempts to change the birth right law established in the Fourteen Amendment. Many conservative people believe the sons and daughters of undocumented immigrants shouldn’t be granted American citizenship. They interpret the 14th amendment to exclude anyone whose parents are not legal residents of this country. There has even been attempts to change the Constitution and the Fourteen Amendment more exclusive. Doing so would leave many people without nationally. Regardless of the countless arguments everyone

Birthright citizenship is when citizenship is automatically granted to children who are born in the United States of America. Basically, all children born in the US receive automatic citizenship regardless if their parents are born in the US or from other countries.

Immigration is broadly considered a matter of national interest. During the early years of the United States of America, immigrants were embraced and provided them with a pathway to citizenship as they came in search of personal advancement (Martin, n.d.). Today, the US is home to over 40 million immigrants who represents one-fifth of the US population. As the US develops, immigration reform restricts immigrants resulting in an influx of unauthorized immigrants. According to Bailik & Lopez (2017), 11million or 3.4% of the immigrant population is unauthorized. Subsequently, there have been numerous debates highlighting economic, security and humanitarian concerns as these unauthorized immigrants, including children, continues to

World War I military draft cards are another resource that could assist you in determining time of Naturalization and location. As can be seen in the example provided it is clearly noted that Myer was a Naturalized citizen.

The DREAM Act has been a contentious issue in the politics of the American immigration policy. First proposed in 2001, the Act has seen several unsuccessful reintroductions into the legislative process. It is mainly because of the contentious nature of the aims of the Act. It seeks to provide the undocumented Americans with an opportunity to live legally, either through a conditional or permanent residence status (Palacios 2). Essentially, the Act is “a pathway to citizenship for many college students” (Wilson).

The purpose of this article was to inform other about birthright citizenship. The article further explains how illegal immigrants use their child “anchor baby” to gain citizenship through birthrights, also known as the 14th Amendment. This article also explains the misinterpretation of the 14th Amendment. There is no specific author but was published by Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). FAIR is known as a non-profit, non- partisan organization. Their mission is to acknowledge and aware the public of immigration issues, present solutions, give answers, and ensure the public’s voice is heard. Since their mission is to inform the public, this article is easy and useful for the general public. The article explains certain terms

Life is America’s fundamental right, the freedom to live, pray and work as you so please. Unfortunately, these ideals came at a time when the nation was much smaller, and rights where more easily defined and the country was less diverse. With the great expansion of land and the progression of 240 years, diversity happened rapidly and ideals changed. A perfect example of the always changing American landscape, in 1868 the Supreme Court ratified the 14th amendment, granting natural born citizens American rights, regardless of parental origin. In America today, this ratification is in question, 147 years later. An immigration debate across the United States, is calling for these so called “anchor babies” to be deported. These natural born citizen lives are being threatened on the stance that

To get to understand Immigration you have to know what immigration is, the word Immigrant means,”Someone who is a Non-United States citizen in America or planning on going to America with the intent to reside here permanently.” There is multiple methods to becoming a United States citizen, Spouse of a child, immediate relatives, His/her employment, refugees (someone fearful of persecution), and Naturalization. Naturalization by far the hardest, has some fairly sequential rules, 18 years of age, a lawful resident of U.S.A., a good moral character, have lived in the U.S. for a prior five years, and probably the hardest part the test. The test has gotten so difficult that the pass rate is a 72.2% (by a 2012 study). The test is divided up into

I The NATURAL-BORN CITIZEN CLAUSE AS ORIGINALLY UNDERSTOOD IN EARLY AMERICAN AND BRITISH COMMON LAW WOULD REFUTE SENATOR CRUZ’S CASE THAT HE IS A NATURAL BORN CITIZEN WITHOUT CORRESPONDING STATUTES MAKING AN EXCEPTION.

Children are often caught in the middle when the state decides whether a child’s right to live in an intact family conflicts with its interest in maintaining immigration control. Along with this issue, there is an argument regarding allowing children born in a country to have automatic birthright citizenship, even when their parents may be undocumented.

Illegal immigration has been a problem that has plagued the United States for many years. Yet this problem is not a new uprising issue in view of the fact that thousands of immigrants have crossed over seas and boarders since this country was founded. Although Immigrants have played a great deal into the influence of culture in our country, and The underlying problem boils down to “birthright citizenship” -the guarantee of citizenship to the children of illegal immigrants who were born on US soil. Children born on U.S. soil to Illegal Immigrants should not become U.S. citizens.