The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution provides citizenship for any baby born in the United States. As the media has clarified over the past week or so, the Amendment came about after the Civil War to allow for the citizenship of babies born to those who had been brought to this country as slaves. It has been triumphed over the past decades as a beacon of the breadth and inclusiveness of this nation.
Now, however, the issue of immigration has reached a fevered pitch among many Americans, and one solution being offered to stem the flow of non-documented immigrants is to withdraw that privilege. It is felt by some that many people come to this country without proper documentation just to have their expected child blessed with American citizenship. It’s true. In fact there are companies in some countries that advertise the possibility and will sell the pregnant couple a package to come here, get the proper hospital and medical care, receive a document of the child’s citizenship, and then fly them back to their native land. All for a sizable fee. It would seem that American citizenship is something to be sought after.
However, that little scenario is not the focus of the current debate. Some in this country, including a good number of members of Congress, believe that the influx of “illegal” immigrants across the Mexican border can be stemmed by removing this privilege. In a flurry of anxiety-driven actions, this one reigns at the top of some peoples’ lists.
It is a knee-jerk reaction.
There is a panic among those who are agitated about immigration. The Arizona legislation was one sign of that panic, produced, justifiably, by the federal government’s delay in dealing with the issue of the burgeoning immigrant population. If you live in Vermont that issue may not be one of major proportions, but if you live in Arizona it is a huge issue. The people of that state are right to pressure the federal government to take action, but the legislation produced by them to deal with the issue is not the answer.
Neither is the momentum to discard or revise the 14th Amendment. There are many other, more prudent methods available to the federal government to deal with the issue without destroying one of the most fundamental pieces of legislation in our nation’s history.
I don’t sense that the federal government is unwilling to take on the issue of immigration. However, it has been one of those issues which ended up “on the list of things to be done” during this administration, primarily because of the urgent, pressing matters of two wars, a critically ill economy, and a disaster in the Gulf Coast. There is only so much that a government can deal with in an urgent manner at a specific time.
What is needed right now is some demonstration by the Obama administration and the members of Congress that a comprehensive and direction-changing legislative Immigration Reform package will emerge for a vote in the next session of Congress. Continued bantering about the issue and rhetorical promises are no longer sufficient. The public needs to see something which will assure us that the issue will be confronted and resolved sooner rather than later.
There is a lot of posturing right now, given the November elections. That posturing which involves threats (that’s what they are!) to attack the 14th Amendment is creating more heat than light. In a year when a scorching summer has fried the emotions of many people, we don’t need more heat.
