To show that they’re serious about the problems facing our country, Republicans have decided to go after the Fourteenth Amendment. They take issue with the following provision of Section One:
“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.”
“There is a constitutional provision in the 14th Amendment that has been interpreted to provide that, if you are born in the United States, you are a citizen no matter what."
Let me be the first to say that I couldn’t agree more.
Too long have immigrants flocked to our shores, infecting us with their diverse skills and experiences. In our magnanimity, we have allowed them to clean our toilets and pick our fruit, even paying them salaries in the hundreds of cents so they don’t go hungry. But we just can’t allow ourselves to be taken advantage of any longer.
“That’s how you get the credibility to deal with other aspects of the problem.”
But while my Republican friends seek only to deny citizenship to the children of Mexicans, I think we could stand to go a lot farther. I didn’t have to do a damn thing to become a citizen of this country. My parents, on the other hand, had to work toward that goal for years – and even now, as naturalized citizens, the PATRIOT Act provides for their indefinite detention without cause.
"Regardless of how you feel about the various aspects of immigration reform, I don’t think anybody thinks that’s something they’re comfortable with.”
So instead of making kids sign up for the draft when they turn 18, why don’t we give them the USCIS exam that all prospective immigrants must pass before they are granted citizenship? I’m quite certain that the prospect of exile would have inspired the kids in my high school government class to put down their dipping tobacco and pick up their textbooks.
Go get ‘em, Mitch.
We are such anchor babies.