Senate Republican Whip backs anchor baby hearing

From Connie Hair of Human Events on Aug. 2:

On CBS’ "Face the Nation" on Sunday, Senate Republican Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) backed the notion of a hearing to examine the constitutionality of granting citizenship to children of illegal aliens born on U.S. soil.

Kyl was asked by the host if he backed the "movement afoot" to "rescind the law that makes anyone born in the United States a U.S. citizen specifically aimed at the children of illegal immigrants."

"There is a constitutional provision in the Fourteenth Amendment that has been interpreted to provide that, if you are born in the United States, you are a citizen no matter what," Kyl said. "Now, there are limitations on that, for example, for the children of diplomats and so on. And so the question is, if both parents are here illegally, should there be a reward for their illegal behavior?"

Crafted in 1866 and ratified July 9, 1868, the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was aimed at settling citizenship issues of slaves born on U.S. soil that had been recently freed by the Civil War.

Section One of the Fourteenth Amendment states:

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. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Aliens in the United States legally or illegally are subject to the jurisdiction of their own country.

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