A couple of weeks after the Dream Act failed to get the necessary votes in the Senate, a few Republican congressmen are proposing stricter legislation on immigration that would end automatic citizenship to children born in the US by illegal immigrants.
Currently, children born in the US, including the children of illegal immigrants, are considered citizens under the Fourteenth Amendment.
The bill is coming at a time when some states are looking into similar legislation hoping to crack down on illegal immigration.
One of the main sponsors of the bill, Rep. Steve King of Iowa, told Fox News, “Passage of this bill will ensure that immigration law breakers are not rewarded, will close the door to future waves of extended family chain migration, and will help to bring an end to the global ‘birth tourism’ industry.”
According to the Chicago Tribune, Rep. Steve King could soon be the chairman of the House committee that oversees Immigration and Citizenship.
But this bill is facing quite a bit of opposition, “These thoughtless and unnecessary proposals take our country in the wrong direction, away from inclusion and our other core American values,” Janet Murguia, president and CEO of the National Council of La Raza, told Fox News.
Murguia also said, “The citizenship clause is a bedrock principle of civil rights and part of what makes us all Americans. Never in our nation’s history have we amended the Constitution to take away someone’s rights, and we should not do so now.”
A bill similar to this bill failed to progress out of committee last year.
Coincidentally, the Constitution was read on the House floor this Thursday, including the Fourteenth Amendment.
