08/10/2007
Stephen Dinan of the Washington Times has been going around asking Republicans if illegal aliens can get automatic citizenship for children born in the United States
Huckabee on citizenship rightsStephen Dinan, The Washington Times Posted on August 9, 2007
Following on the Rudy Giuliani comment earlier this week that birthright citizenship is a constitutional guarantee, I had a chance to ask another candidate, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, about his view of the issue.
"I would support changing that. I think there is reason to revisit that, just because a person, through sheer chance of geography, happened to be physically here at the point of birth, doesn’t necessarily constitute citizenship," he said. "I think that’s a very reasonable thing to do, to revisit that."
Which entirely reasonable. See, for example,Children of an Invading Army, (by me)
Consider the following hypothetical case:
Imagine that an invading army enters the United States, wearing uniforms and carrying arms, and behaving exactly like an army, but bringing their wives.
This is what the European armies of the early nineteenth century did, during the Napoleonic Wars, after all. Women frequently gave birth in foreign countries.
If this hypothetical invading army stayed long enough to have children, would the enemy soldiers€™ sons and daughters be American citizens?
Would those children have the right to return to the US, years later, and sponsor their soldier fathers, who would presumably have been expelled in this hypothetical war?
The idea is ridiculous.
Dinan has a round-up of people he’s asked about this:
*Reps. Tom Tancredo and Duncan Hunter are co-sponsors H.R.1940. *Mitt Romney was still studying the issue late last month, according to ABC News' Teddy Davis *When asked earlier this year, Sen. Sam Brownback said he was going to "fudge" on what he called the "anchor baby proposal," saying it was a constitutional question and out of his hands. *Giuliani also says it’s a constitutional guarantee. *Rather than letting the constitutional questions be an impediment, Rep. Ron Paul has introduced a constitutional amendment, H.J. RES. 46, to change the 14th Amendment.
I know Ron Paul has great respect for the Constitution, but if he feels that there needs to be an amendment to stop birthright citizenship, I think he’s wrong. See Weigh Anchor! Enforce the Citizenship Clause
by Nathaniel Parker, August 31, 2001, for the Constitutional issues involved, with quotes and links to the Senate Debate for May 30, 1866, which shows the intent of the people who passed the bill.
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