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Proposed Arizona law targets birthright citizenship
- ubernostrum 16y agoThe Supreme Court has already considered this argument, in 1898's United States v. Wong Kim Ark (Google will turn up good summaries and the full ruling if you're curious). Spoiler alert: it didn't work that time, and there's no reason why it would work this time.
- mustpax 16y agoI can think of four reasons: Scalia, Roberts, Alito, Thomas.
- giberson 16y agoThe irony of this, is that passing it would practically invalidate every United States citizen citizenship. Since, if you can't become a citizen by being born here, how would our parents have become citizens? Aside from those who gained citizenship through legal process--but what right would a non-citizen judge have to grant citizenship in the first place?
- cpeterso 16y agoThe debate is whether children of non-citizen immigrants should be granted US citizenship just because they were born on American soil.
- ubernostrum 16y agoExcept that's the problem. There are quite a few people here whose ancestors were US citizens when the country became, well, a country. But anyone else born here is a descendant of non-citizen immigrants.
- rdouble 16y agoThat's the polite way to say it. Really it's about whether children of non-citizen poor Mexican immigrants should be granted US citizenship. If Arizona shared a border with Sweden and all the non-citizens having babies were hot blonde chicks, there would be no immigration debate.
- cpeterso 16y agoI agree with you, but it is an interesting question. Do any other countries automatically grant citizenship to children of non-citizens? And what if only one parent is a citizen?
- rdouble 16y agoDo any other countries automatically grant citizenship to children of non-citizens? Almost every country in the Americas. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jus_soli#Specific_national_legislation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jus_soli#Specific_national_legi...