Should Children of Immigrants Become US Cititzens?

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The issue this debate is covering is weather or not the United States should allow the children of immigrants to become legal citizens. Some question if it is a violation of the US constitution to allow the citizenship of children born on US soil to parents who have entered the US illegally. The 14th Amendment to the constitution addresses this issue, however how the US should proceed as a country is still up for a very real and reasonable debate.

The 14th Amendment states:
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. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

The 14th Amendment was initially passed to clarify the citizenship of Blacks in this country who had been forced here through slavery to no fault of their own and no longer have allegiance to their original place of residence, Africa. Therefor, their children have no other place of allegiance either. Many people argue that this clearly excludes children born of parents who were not legal citizens of the United States and regardless of the interpretation or misinterpretation; the intent was not to allow people who had entered the country of their own choice and illegally to have children here who would be considered citizens. The 14th Amendment has two specific requirements, one is “all persons naturalized in the United States” and the other is “subject to the Jurisdiction thereof”. It is the...

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... any laws is an oxymoron. You are breaking at least one law if you are here illegally. In addition disregarding any Amendment to the Constitution for political gain is a clear sign of where the US is heading as a country and that is not good for any of us. Even if it is the President of the United States, that does not make it right. It is for these reasons that the argument against making children of illegal immigrants citizens of the US is the more persuasive.

Works Cited

http://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2010/08/30/repealing-the-14th-amendment-would-not-fix-our-immigration-system http://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2010/08/30/14th-amendment-doesnt-make-illegal-aliens-children-citizens http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-02-10/news/sns-rt-us-usa-immigration-cantorbre91908j-20130210_1_immigration-reform-children-of-illegal-immigrants-dream-act

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