CIRCUMVENTION: Illegal Immigrants abuse constitutional clause to gain a shortcut to citizenship.
By Malik Alexander, Staff Writer
The Citizenship Clause of the 14th 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.” This concept of birthright citizenship, the right to citizenship by birth in a country regardless of parentage, was originally adopted for purposes no longer applicable to the United States, and yet this ordinance is still in active duty. There is clear and irrefutable proof of the abuse of this right, which has resulted in exponentially adverse effects on both our economy and well-being of our citizens.
The Birthright Clause was initially installed to ensure citizenship for newly-freed slaves and to assimilate Native Americans. However in recent years, this clause has been championed by non-citizen parents and families as a method to circumvent the system, raising their children without proper documentation and passing through the proper channels.
Among the plethora of consequences, hospitals nationwide have suffered as a result of this clause. Top Right News reported that nearly 500,000 babies of non-citizen parents are born nationally every year, with as much as “1 in 10 of all births” coming from illegal immigrants. Of these cases, nearly all are unpaid for, leaving hospitals with crippling bills. In 2014, Kaiser Health stated that Medicaid, a U.S. social health program that assists families and individuals with low income and limited resources who cannot afford health care, had paid 2.2 billion dollars for unpaid illegal immigrant delivery bills. While the legal children of these criminals may receive health-care, parents and other family members do not, leaving them with no other option but to leave the financial responsibility on the hospitals, which comes with severe repercussions. In fact, the San Francisco Examiner reported that 84 hospitals in California had to close down primarily due to undocumented patient’s unpaid medical expenses.
Tax dollars meant to be used to provide social services for US citizens are also being obtained and utilized by undocumented immigrants. The Center for Immigration Studies found that “nearly $2 billion dollars goes to illegal aliens annually, in the form of food stamps, welfare and free lunches.” The educational system in particular has had to provide special services such as translators and catered classes for non-English speaking children and parents. In a world where education funding has taken a backseat, this news is devastating for actual U.S. citizens. Huffington Post reported that “$100 billion tax dollars get spent on illegal aliens annually”— and this is just in education. Due to the growing number of undocumented children, programs like the DREAM Act, a legislative proposal that allows conditional residency and access to our educational systems, eventually leading to permanent residency, have been established not to control this damaging practice, but to condone it.
Perhaps the largest reason illegal immigrants come into America is their desire for work. Illegal residents have made their mark on the American workforce, with the Bureau of Labor Statistics revealing that 71 percent of illegal immigrants have taken American jobs, in a country where 8.1 million legal citizens are struggling to find work.
While these children may be citizens, their illegal family members are criminals. Coming over to this country to create a bright future for your child is one matter, but to cheat and degrade this country is another. Not only does this make a mockery of U.S. Citizenship, it is a slap in the face to legal immigrants who have patiently waited to become citizens of this country through naturalization. If we completely abolish the concept of birthright citizenship, like the majority of other the nations, we could preserve the excellence of this country for its citizens and those willing to go the extra mile to become one.