Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Birthright Citizenship

The 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution addresses many aspects of citizenship and the rights of citizens. It states all persons born or naturalized in the United States are citizens of United States. This amendment was ratified on July 28, 1868. It was intended to include former slaves (as equal citizens) who had just been freed after the civil war. 

But the present day reality is anyone born in the United States is automatically becomes a U.S. citizen, under this 14th Amendment. This includes people who are in USA illegally and also people who come to USA just to have a baby and return home with a US Citizen. 

This has become a major political issue in the upcoming Presidential election. Mr. Donald Trump says 14th Amendment is unconstitutional and those kids and their parents have to be deported. He is supported by many Americans on this issue. 

These babies are called “Anchor Babies”. There are about 400,000 anchor babies born each year in USA. Since most of the parents are illegal immigrants, they don’t have any money. The government is paying for everything for these families – from hospital delivery charges to k-12 education to breakfast and lunch program to English as 2nd language education. 

There are about 4 million illegal immigrant anchor babies in USA. Mr. Trump wants all these babies and their parents deported to their countries. He says birthright citizenship is “out of date”. 

But the question is is it possible? Is it practical? to deport that many number of people. 

Just FYI: A person born in India on or after 1 July 1987 is a citizen of India if either parent was a citizen of India at the time of the birth. Those born in India on or after 3 December 2004 are considered citizens of India only if both of their parents are citizens of India or if one parent is a citizen of India and the other is not an illegal migrant at the time of their birth. 

With Trump leading the polls, there is never a dull moment.

20 comments:

  1. We don't seem to have any regulations for having Indian citizenship. Bangladeshis and Lankans are living here and then blend with our people.

    Anchor babies...this is news to me! It is not possible to deport so many people at a time. Weird problem!

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    1. Thanks for your comments Sandhya. The rule is there in India. I don't know if it is enforced or not.

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  2. If this is going to be his attitude then,he is not going to win, for it involves the lives of so many people legal or illlegal. Since the law has been there for years it is not going to be easy to change it. He sounds as controversial as some of our Indian/ Hindu leaders with their own weird sense of logic, who open their mouth too soon.
    It would not be as easy it was for him to say,"You are fired", and expect all those people to walk away without a fight.
    Some people/ politicians are so naive, they start revealing their aganda before the right time. However, this was not expected from a shrewed pearson like Mr.Trump.
    For a change, he will be fired!
    Being a seasoned politician is an art , not every businessman/ trillionaire can aspire to become one.

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    1. Thanks for your comments Rama. I agree that it is not possible to deport that many number of people. Whether Trump wins or not – several Presidential candidates support ending birthright citizenship on a going forward basis. This includes Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, Kentucky U.S. Senator Rand Paul, and Ohio Governor John Kasich.

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  3. I think they need not deport everyone, they could just stop giving the citizenship rights, if they feel it's difficult to sustain.

    Destination Infinity

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    1. Thanks for your comments Rajesh. I think that is what they will be doing going forward.

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  4. One in every three babies born in UK is an Asian with Indians and Pakistanis dominating the charts. Immigrants have become a grave concern for American and European nations. Informative post :)

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    1. Thanks for your comments Ankita. I did not want to touch the subject of Indians in USA. It is a big story.

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    2. Ankita,

      Just FYI. The UK does not have birthright citizenship - in order to qualify for British citizenship at birth, one or both parents had to be a British citizen or considered to be permanently settled (in possession of Indefinite Leave to Remain), if the parents don't fulfill these criteria then the child takes the citizenship of the parents.

      There are only 2 countries in this world that give birthright citizenship. USA and Canada.

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  5. This is a controversial issue, but i guess he has a point. I know of many Indians here in US who are happy just because they feel they will get a GC because their kid is born here...also that they will never have a tough time in Visa interviews in India.

    I feel bad for US that way since they are losing jobs and money because of all this mess (remember, many are also illegal here)!

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  6. Politics? :/
    Dry but Informative post.

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  7. It is impossible to do away with the immigrants' citizenship; what they should do is to keep some cutoff dates to stop immigration in large numbers. And the Americans mostly are not indigenous.They also had migrated centuries ago from elsewhere and became the master of the house.Interesting topic.

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  8. As long as he is in news, everything is fair!

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  9. I think that's going to be an herculean task if it ever is implemented.

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  10. Any law if made should be valid from that day only, not for the past,.I feel that giving citizenship on birth is really ridiculous..and encourages unscrupulous people to go there for this purpose only.

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  11. Very interesting article, SG! I had heard that anyone born in US becomes citizen of that country. But, rest everything was unknown to me. Interesting laws and uninteresting problems!

    Thanks a lot for your all time support for my blogs :) It really means a lot!
    TC, keep smiling :)

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  12. I wonder if Trump echoes the majority thought or he is deliberately stoking the sentiments. He seems to remain in the news, however, and that must be part of political campaign.

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  13. It seems unfair for the State to give resources to illegal immigrants at the cost of hardworking people who pay taxes, but deporting them seems even more unfair. Trump is truly an interesting guy, he seems like our right-wing Hindutva folks here back home, so unabashed in his views however myopic they are. The presidential race sure seems like an interesting one, with him in the race.

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  14. Trump sure has made the GoP debates super interesting :D

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