According to the Free Online Dictionary, “The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution reads: Every person 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 live. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abbreviate the opportunities or freedoms of citizenship; nor shall any State limit any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor object to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws"(Fourteenth Amendment, The Free Dictonary.com). We must remember this was created on July 9, 1868. This needs to be reevaluated and updated to conform to our current time. In our present day
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Pregnant women from other countries come to “tour” the United States, at the very time they are expected to give birth to their baby, therefore, making the child an American born citizen. This happens more than anyone may think. According to the article titled, “Born in the USA: Why Chinese 'Birth Tourism' Is Booming in California.” which states, “There is a growing wave of Chinese women who are flocking to the United States — California, in particular” (Sheehan, Matt). This is in many instances completely legal, thanks to the Fourteenth Amendment. However, it is confusing, to say the least, because, it is illegal to enter this country without authorization. I believe author George F. Will summarizes it best in his article titled, “An Argument to be made About Immigrant Babies and Citizenship”, where he writes, "It is difficult to imagine a more irrational and self-defeating legal system than one which makes unauthorized entry into this country a criminal offense and simultaneously provides perhaps the greatest possible inducement to illegal entry" (Will, George F.). This at the very least needs to be more specifically written into the Constitution, if not re-evaluated and changed completely into making it a requirement that one parent is an American citizen and not just the baby being born on United States soil. This could drastically reduce the influx of illegal immigrants coming to America. Having such an incentive to entice these immigrants into our country is financially crippling our nation’s resources. Which is taking away from the ones who really are American’s and not just because they were born on United States soil but because their family of origin is
Pregnant women from other countries come to “tour” the United States, at the very time they are expected to give birth to their baby, therefore, making the child an American born citizen. This happens more than anyone may think. According to the article titled, “Born in the USA: Why Chinese 'Birth Tourism' Is Booming in California.” which states, “There is a growing wave of Chinese women who are flocking to the United States — California, in particular” (Sheehan, Matt). This is in many instances completely legal, thanks to the Fourteenth Amendment. However, it is confusing, to say the least, because, it is illegal to enter this country without authorization. I believe author George F. Will summarizes it best in his article titled, “An Argument to be made About Immigrant Babies and Citizenship”, where he writes, "It is difficult to imagine a more irrational and self-defeating legal system than one which makes unauthorized entry into this country a criminal offense and simultaneously provides perhaps the greatest possible inducement to illegal entry" (Will, George F.). This at the very least needs to be more specifically written into the Constitution, if not re-evaluated and changed completely into making it a requirement that one parent is an American citizen and not just the baby being born on United States soil. This could drastically reduce the influx of illegal immigrants coming to America. Having such an incentive to entice these immigrants into our country is financially crippling our nation’s resources. Which is taking away from the ones who really are American’s and not just because they were born on United States soil but because their family of origin is