Rep Andy Barr: End the Birthright Citizenship Debate with a Constitutional Amendment

Kentucky Republican Representative Andy Barr wants to end the decades-long controversy of what constitutes “birthright citizenship” with a constitutional amendment that rules out automatic citizenship for children born to illegal immigrants.

Barr’s amendment, which would have to be approved by a supermajority of Congress as well as state legislatures, would clarify the meaning of the 14th Amendment’s clause that persons born must be “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States to be citizens.

Barr called the amendment an important step in helping the president “protect America.”

The proposal comes during legal battles between President Donald Trump and several Democratic-run states over birthright citizenship, including disputes over the president’s previous executive order ending the practice in certain instances, particularly for illegal immigrants.

The practice historically has meant that children of illegal aliens, offspring born in the U.S., are granted citizenship regardless of the parents’ immigration status.

It has also been abused by pregnant foreign nationals who travel to the U.S. simply to have children who are designated citizens, thus gaining legal residency for the parents and ultimately their citizenship as well.

As Breitbart News reported in January:

Trump’s order excludes the following people from automatic citizenship: those whose mothers were not legally in the United States and whose fathers were not U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents; people whose mothers were in the country legally but on a temporary basis and whose fathers were not citizens or legal permanent residents.

The 14th Amendment, which was ratified in 1868 to guarantee citizenship rights to former slaves, states that “all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States.”

Barr’s amendment, Fox News reported:

Would clarify that “a person born in the United States may only be considered ‘subject to the jurisdiction of the United States’ if the person is born in the United States of parents, one of whom is (1) a national of the United States; (2) an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence in the United States whose residence is in the United States; or (3) an alien with lawful status under the immigration laws performing active service in the armed forces.”

The measure follows on the heels of the Supreme Court ‘s Friday ruling that delivered a major victory for the Trump administration’s argument to block lower federal courts from issuing universal injunctions that have stopped many of Trump’s policies and executive orders.

Justices ruled 6-3 to allow the lower courts to issue injunctions only in limited instances pertaining to cases before the court. But Congressman Barr said the status of what birthright citizenship means and how it is applied still remains unclear.

“I applaud SCOTUS for limiting injunctions, but we cannot wait on ending birthright citizenship for illegal immigrants,” he said in a statement released by his office. “I’ll be introducing a Constitutional Amendment in Congress immediately to put an end to this debate and end birthright citizenship for illegal immigrants once and for all.”

He added, “We must fight on every front and do whatever it takes to help President Trump protect America.”

Contributor Lowell Cauffiel is the best-selling author of Below the Line and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.comfor more.