Defending the 14th Amendment

from Rich Stolz, ReformImmigrationFORAmerica

Defending the 14th Amendment: Late last month Senator Lindsey Graham announced that he may attempt to change the Constitution to repeal the guarantee for birthright citizenship in the 14th Amendment. When Senators Kyl, McConnell and McCain endorsed hearings on the issue, a storm of anti-immigrant sentiment followed from the right. "People come here to have babies. They come here to drop a child," Senator Graham told Fox News while discussing his desire to stop immigrants from having “anchor babies.”

His comments are outrageous, and a chorus of voices (ranging from John Stewart to Lou Dobbs) is building to beat back the extremist attack on the Constitution. The rights guaranteed in the 14th Amendment are fundamental and should not be challenged for political purposes. As one columnist wrote in response to Senator Graham’s comments, “I have lived for more than half a century, and I have yet to meet a mother anywhere in the world who would describe the excruciating miracle of birth as "dropping" a baby.” Jon Stewart’s entire opening segment mocked the senators and pundits asking, “You want to be tough on babies?” Punishing babies who are born in the United States to non-citizen parents would be an extreme and un-American measure even if it did not threaten a Constitutional right that was instilled over 100 years ago.

In response to these hateful calls for repeal, the Immigration Policy Center (IPC) held a press conference featuring Michele Waslin of the Immigration Policy Center, Margaret Stock, Attorney and Retired Lieutenant Colonel, Military Police Corps, US Army Reserve, Elizabeth Wydra Constitutional Accountability Center, Eric Ward, Center for New Community, and Bill Ong Hing, of the University of San Francisco School of Law. These experts discussed the importance of preserving the 14th Amendment and debunked the arguments against birthright citizenship. IPC also released a variety of materials on the 14th Amendment, birthright citizenship and why we should defend these rights.

Also in defense of the 14th Amendment, the Conservatives for CIR (CfCIR) brought together legal experts from across the political spectrum, including the deans of the Liberty University School of Law, the University of California Davis School of Law and a professor of law at West Point on a national telephonic conference. All agreed that this latest political move is a misguided attack on immigrants and a distraction from real Congressional action on a practical and lasting solution to our broken immigration system.You can hear a recording of the call at http://www.conservativesforcir.org/CfCIR_8-18.mp3