Congressman talks birthright citizenship on Fox
By Dena Bunis
The Orange County Register (Santa Ana, CA), April 15, 2010
http://www.ocregister.com/news/miller-244177-fox-made.html
Babies born to illegal immigrants should not be made American citizens, Rep. Gary Miller said on Fox News Thursday morning.
Miller, R-Diamond Bar, is one of 90 c0-sponsors on a bill introduced last year that would interpret the 14th amendment in a way that would allow Congress to prevent children to become citizens at birth if both of their parents were undocumented, unless one of them was serving in the U.S. military.
The bill was introduced last May by Georgia Republican Nathan Deal who is retiring from Congress at the end of this year. Millers staff said he will carry the legislation from now on. All five Orange County Republicans are among the 90 co-sponsors on the measure.
The bill has not had a hearing in the immigration subcommittee and has no chance of moving while Democrats control the House. Even when Republicans were in charge and similar measures were introduced they never went anywhere.
Miller was responding to questions from Fox's Bill Hemmer about the practice of people coming to the U.S. just to have babies and the hotels that Hemmer said offer tourism packages to help women accomplish this.
Miller said many of these women have the babies, take them back to their home countries but then those children can come back to the U.S. as citizens and go to school here and later be able to bring family members here legally.
'Its wrong, Miller said, and that despite what critics say that such a law would be unconstitutional he believes that the 14th amendment 'gives Congress the right to delegate how the amendment is applied.
Heres what the 14th amendment says about citizenship:
'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.'
Miller, however, is hanging his hat on Section 5 of that amendment that says:
'The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.'
Asked about whether such a law- which has been authored over the years by several different lawmakers is politically unrealistic and unnecessary, Miller said no.
'Have you talked to the American people lately about whats going on in Washington? Miller said. 'Theyre angry. I think theyre going to have strong support for this bill.'
Millers office reported that just minutes after his Fox interview the phones began ringing with people calling in to support his position.
Syndicated columnist George Will had a column on this issue last month. He said the founding fathers hadnt accounted for the possibility of illegal immigration when the birthright provision was drafted.
But in a column on Huffington Post, Jonathan Weiler, a professor of international studies at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, disagrees with Will. Weiler says even back when the 14th amendment was drafted the country was experiencing a large wave of Irish immigration that as controversial at the time.
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Brea congressman: end birthright citizenship for illegal immigrants
By Stephen Wall
The Inland Valley Daily Bulletin (Ontario, CA), April 15, 2010
http://www.dailybulletin.com/ci_14895366
