Birthright Citizenship
by Mustang

So close and yet so far
While the background to passage of the Fourteenth Amendment is interesting—even, perhaps, fascinating, it isn’t relevant to the issue brought to us by President Donald J. Trump, who is considering an Executive Order denying birthright citizenship to the so-called tourist babies. Also called anchor-babies, these are children who are birthed in the United States by parents whose intent is to circumvent our immigration laws. No doubt, Mr. Trump has unleashed a firestorm on the issue of illegal immigration to the United States; his recent announcement will fuel these already existent flames. I’m glad. The denial of birthright citizenship is long overdue.
Let’s evaluate this.
There are several sections to the Fourteenth Amendment, the first of these addressing citizenship in the United States of America. It reads, “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.” Does this apply to “anchor babies?”
Read it again, this time focusing on these words: “…and subject to the jurisdiction thereof.” Are anchor babies subject to the jurisdiction of the United States?
No.
I’m not sure why President Andrew Johnson opposed the amendment, but we can clearly see that the amendment, or its popular interpretation, has been nothing if not flawed when it comes to assessing the correctness of illegal aliens coming here to birth their children, and then claiming citizenship (and benefits) on behalf of those children (and their parents).
To my way of thinking, the Fourteenth Amendment is clear. Persons are citizens when they are born or naturalized in the United States AND subject to the jurisdiction thereof.
They are NOT citizens when they are born United States but are NOT subject to the jurisdiction thereof. If Jose and Maria are citizens of Mexico, who travel to the United States, they are subject to the jurisdiction of Mexico, not the United States. If Maria is pregnant when she arrives in the United States, she remains subject to the jurisdiction of Mexico. If she delivers her baby in the United States, the baby is subject to the jurisdiction of Mexico —not the United States.
Trump is not only correct to consider an Executive Order denying birthright citizenship, he is on legal grounds to do so.
UPDATE ADDENDUM:
Here is what Senator Jacob Howard, author of the 14th Amendment, said about birthright citizenship in 1866 and his thinking behind it. It seems that Trump can absolutely end birthright citizenship for anchor babies with an EO. Link to Library of Congress archive:
Here is a copy of a Pdf of the Congressional Globe: Birthright Citizenship (1)
Oopsie … The above post got added to today’s earlier post which was–
It’s a good one… stop on by
November 1, 2018 at 12:00 am
Now it is. Nite nite. 🙂
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October 31, 2018 at 11:40 pm
Nearing my bedtime on Halloween night. 🙂
Up on the roof top
The clatter did I hear
Nope it wasn’t hooves tappin’
Jist a road out broom stick
Floppin’ carelessly in the wind,
Same ole resister outta control.
https://imgur.com/a/hGW6XZh
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November 1, 2018 at 6:21 am
Good one…Unit… 🙂
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October 31, 2018 at 3:37 pm
Well, I be OT I guess, but it is Halloween!
What does a democratic socialist do on Halloween just before the election? 🙂
https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fi.pinimg.com%2F236x%2F97%2Fdf%2F40%2F97df40d23ab39878b0d6acd29bede096–halloween-cartoons-halloween-humor.jpg&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pinterest.com%2Fhalloweentreats%2Fhalloween-funnies%2F&docid=9JLy-5ksW2HFJM&tbnid=-Lz_PTEHOD0PuM%3A&vet=10ahUKEwjr7JKy8bDeAhUC61MKHbWeCvoQMwhJKAswCw
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October 31, 2018 at 9:58 am
I’ll tellyou, crazy professors are going nuts…I had one yesterday who said that Trumps supporters are all white nationalists…why, thank you very much….not sure if that is worse than the word Deplorable . it’s sad, truly it is.
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October 31, 2018 at 10:15 am
Whoever told you that is so intellectually dishonest that it nearly takes all the air out of the room. How do people like this find work in our colleges and universities? Good grief …
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October 31, 2018 at 11:30 am
I know it’s intellectually dishonest , the young folks dont. It’s sad, truly.
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October 30, 2018 at 10:28 pm
What people overlook is that there weren’t any illegal aliens back then — the borders were open. No one was in the Country without the permission of the government. That detail has a huge impact in the intent and meaning of the Amendment.
The Constitution doesn’t force the government to reward law-breakers. People in the Country without permission (law-breakers) cannot confer citizenship (reward) upon their offspring. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. Only citizens can confer citizenship upon their children. One must first possess citizenship before one can confer it upon one’s children.
One only has to read the words of the 14th Amendment’s framers to understand they did not write an amendment that gave citizenship to the children of people who illegally entered the Country. No way, no how.
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October 31, 2018 at 9:25 am
You make a good point. I am not looking forward to the next couple of weeks. Whether we lose or win Congress, it won’t go down easy. Same with this invasion coming our way.
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October 31, 2018 at 10:28 am
What blows my mind is how little Congress knows about the laws they’ve sworn to uphold. Paul Ryan dismissed Mr. Trump’s suggested executive order out of hand, saying that it would be “unconstitutional.” This clearly isn’t true. Here’s what I wonder: if members of congress were aware of Senator Howard’s intent and intentionally ignored it, then the Congress has conspired against the American people by allowing illegals to come here to birth their offspring.
I really do hope that Mr. Trump will sign his executive order. His job is to enforce the laws of our land. The Constitution and its amendments are the founding laws of our land. To my way of thinking, an executive order excluding birthright citizenship is no more than the president doing his constitutionally mandated job.
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October 31, 2018 at 10:50 am
I replied to several tweets that the intent no doubt will be to run this through the courts as opposed a Trump takeover as our “Nationalist” rips apart the constitution. They can’t seem to get that point. Knee jerk reaction.
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October 30, 2018 at 10:17 pm
Oopsie, a premature blog delivery. All’s well, healthy, and bonafide. 🙂
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October 31, 2018 at 7:32 am
About 2000 subscribers got an early delivery…still thriving this morning Unit… 🙂
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October 30, 2018 at 7:44 pm
As we know, it was a faulty interpretation of the 14th amendment which created the anchor babies but I had never seen what the author of the amendment had to say about it. Thanks for sharing that! I think it is going to be tough to get this done by EO simply because of the way it has already been interpreted. But it sure will be interesting to see what happens if this makes it to the new Supreme Court!
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October 30, 2018 at 8:29 pm
The EO will trigger a challenge and this will almost immediately go to the Supreme Court. SCOTUS will have to consider the intent of the author, which is simple enough. Here’s hoping.
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October 30, 2018 at 6:07 pm
I picked this up on twitter:
Here is what Senator Jacob Howard, author of the 14th Amendment, said about birthright citizenship in 1866. It seems that Trump can absolutely end birthright citizenship for anchor babies with an EO. Link to Library of Congress archive: https://www.loc.gov/law/help/citizenship/pdf/congressglobe_2890.pdf …
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October 30, 2018 at 6:47 pm
I read that archive.
Nothing could be clearer as to the intent of the law.
Children born of foreigners are not included.
The Executive executes the laws in the manner he determines they were intended.
Thank God for Gorsuch and Kavanaugh
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October 30, 2018 at 7:15 pm
Pass the word Ed …
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