|
Home > Press Room Archives > 2005 > Press Release
Press Release
Proposed Immigration Legislation Challenges U.S. Constitution by
Eliminating Birthright Citizenship to Babies Born to
Undocumented
LULAC condemns
House leaders for introducing bills that destroy a system of
integration, create a permanent underclass of children and
revert the American way of life to an era of systemic
oppression
December 8, 2005
Contact: Brenda Alvarez,
(202) 833-6130
Washington, DC
– The League of United Latin American Citizens
(LULAC) condemned today House leaders for
introducing a series of immigration proposals
that have taken an illegal, radical and cruel
turn in immigration reform – eliminating
birthright citizenship to babies born to
undocumented parents.
Bills that
contain language to eliminate birthright
citizenship include: “The Reducing Immigration
to a Genuinely Healthy Total (RIGHT) Act”
introduced by Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO); the
“Citizenship Reform Act” introduced by Rep.
Nathan Deal (R-GA); and the “Enforcement First
Immigration Reform Act” introduced by Rep. J.D.
Hayworth (R-AZ).
The latest attack
on immigration by House leaders challenges the
U.S. Constitution, which the Supreme Court has
upheld this basic right for more than 150
years. The 14th Amendment codifies
that “all persons born or naturalized in the
United States and subject to the jurisdiction
thereof, are citizens of the United States.”
Rights and safeguards guaranteed under the 14th
Amendment prohibit the government from depriving
citizens of due process of law, guarantee
citizens equal protection, and extend
citizenship and voting rights to persons born in
the U.S.
Historically, the
14th Amendment was designed to
protect the rights of Southern blacks and
restrict the political power of former
Confederates. It added into the Constitution the
definition of U.S. citizenship that was enacted
in the Civil Rights Bill; barred states from
abridging “the privileges or immunities of
citizens” or depriving “any person of life,
liberty or property without due process of law”;
encouraged Southern states to allow blacks to
vote; barred former officials who had rebelled
against the Union from holding public office;
and repudiated both Confederate war debts and
claims of former slaveholders to compensation
for the loss of their slaves.
“The U.S.
Constitutions is clear and any measure that
strips the citizenship of anyone born in the
United States is unlawful and damaging to the
structure of the United States,” said Brent
Wilkes, executive director of LULAC. “America
has had a long trajectory of integrating
newcomers into this country, which creates a
sense of belonging, pride and the ability to
become productive members of society. These
bills will destroy that system of integration
and instead create a new, permanent underclass
of children.”
Wilkes
continued: “Punishing children in the name of
immigration reform is a poor and unlawful
attempt to resolve very real immigration
challenges, and it reverts the American way of
life to an era of systemic oppression. No U.S.
law currently on our books punishes children for
their parent’s lawbreaking. All Children born
in the United States should be treated equal
under the law.”
LULAC strongly
opposes bills that offer no real solutions
toward comprehensive immigration reform and
jeopardizes the quality of life by creating an
unfair system that punishes children.
The League of
the United Latin American Citizen (www.lulac.org)
advances the economic conditions, educational
attainment, political influence, health and
civil rights of Hispanic Americans through
community-based programs operating at more than
700 LULAC councils nationwide.
###
|
