Citizenship Birthright Under Fire Essays

Citizenship Birthright Under Fire Essays Citizenship Birthright Under Fire Essay Citizenship Birthright Under Fire Essay Citizenship Birthright Under Fire Summary During one morning in Washington, DC, Senator Mitch McConnell who is the Senate minority leader, argued with Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina about the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. The 14th Amendment grants citizenship to anymore born in the United States. Graham spoke out saying the Amendment was a mistake because children of illegal immigrants could become citizens if they were born in the United States automatically. He also stated as well as granting legal status to millions of illegal immigrants, he would also amend the 14th Amendment in order to nullify future unauthorized immigration. Republican and Democratic lawmakers were surprised with Graham’s proposal since he was basically the only Republican to negotiate with Democrats to create an immigration overhaul bill. This debate has been centered on the citizenship clause â€Å"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. People against this amendment have argued that illegal immigrants are not under U. S. jurisdiction and therefore America-born children should not be automatically become citizens. The amendment has been practiced since the 1860’s and if the law were changed it would make babies born from Mexican mothers illegally they would become immigrants at birth. Opponents against the amendment say that Mexican mothers would have the babies here in the U. S. so that hopefully the mothers would receive citizenship. The only thing is by law American citizen children must wait until they are 21 years old to apply for legal residency for their parents. About 4 million citizen children have at least one parent who is an illegal immigrant. Even though Graham is pushing to reconstruct the amendment it would be huge political proposition. Opinion I woke up this morning, proud to be an American. I do not usually think would if I was born somewhere else or would if my relatives never came over to America? Or even would if the 14th Amendment was never thought of or brought up? I just go about my day as usual. If I really look into it and think about it, if my relatives never came to America, I would not be sitting here in this comfortable chair, typing this paper for my government class. As a matter of fact I, as a human being, would not be here. My grandfather’s roots are from Mexico and my grandmother’s are from Germany. If it was not for the 14th Amendment, they would have not met or have been able to be in this country. People come to America for a better life and opportunity. The U. S. is very diverse with different cultures, religions, and races and yet some people whose ancestors came over here are arguing that it is not fair for other people to have an opportunity to succeed. Yet I sort of see why they are complaining because America gets bigger every year due to people coming over