I don't know how many people here are US Citizens, but I thought I'd bring up the topic as it relates to a currently ongoing issue here.
The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution states:
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Fourteenth Amdendment Section 1
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. ...
|
This amendment has been typically analyzed as meaning that if one is born in the US, one is a citizen of the US. This is currently being exploited by people who come to the United States illegally and then have children here. These children are often recognized as being United States Citizens and generally, they and their parents are allowed to remain in the United States.
The interesting thing about this whole analysis is the clause that states "and subject to the jurisdiction thereof". After all, if the authors of the amendment wanted to make it so that anyone who is born within the borders of the United States was a citizen, they wouldn't have needed that clause. They could have simply said "All persons born or naturalized in the United States are citizens of the United States ..." So why the jurisdiction clause?
Perhaps, given that the immigrants that come here illegally are not acting under the jurisdiction of the United States, that their children are not really US Citizens under this amendment. Perhaps we've been getting it all wrong?
-- Jeff