History professor: Why it’s so dangerous for Republicans to use birthright citizenship as a 'weapon'

04 July 2023

Trying to convince GOP presidential primary voters that he is tougher on illegal immigration than former President Donald Trump, far-right Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has been campaigning on ending birthright citizenship. DeSantis' promise is much easier said than done, as birthday citizenship is in the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Former Rep. Carlos Carbello (R-Florida) told the Miami Herald that DeSantis' campaign promise is "unrealistic," adding, "It wouldn't even solve much considering most people who immigrate illegally are seeking economic opportunity — not the opportunity to birth citizens."

DeSantis, as president, wouldn't have the power to end birthright citizenship by executive order. It would require amending the U.S. Constitution, which is a very difficult and complicated process.

The 14th Amendment's Citizenship Clause specifically 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."

In an article published by The Atlantic on July 2, history professor Martha S. Jones lays out some reasons why Republican efforts to use birthright citizenship as a "weapon" are so troubling — and why the 14th Amendment is important to African-Americans.

"Notoriously, the U.S. Supreme Court, in the 1857 case Dred Scott v. Sandford, concluded that citizenship was beyond the reach of Black Americans; their race disqualified them," Jones explains. "During the Civil War and Reconstruction, lawmakers remedied this circumstance: first in an 1862 opinion from Attorney General Edward Bates, then in the Civil Rights Act of 1866 — and finally, in the first clause of the 14th Amendment, which installed birthright in the Constitution, guaranteeing that Black people and all those born in the United States were citizens."

Jones adds, "Calls today to do away with birthright citizenship are, in large part, political theater — often a way to project a tough stance on immigration. DeSantis outlined only a very loose strategy, saying he would 'force the courts and Congress to finally address this failed policy.'"

Birthright citizenship, the history professor emphasizes, "safeguards those born here from political leaders who would mete out citizenship as a reward or withhold it as a punishment."

"The wielding of citizenship as a weapon is precisely what the 14th Amendment was designed to prevent," Jones writes. "In 1868, birthright undid the Dred Scott decision. It ensured that the right of Black Americans to belong to this nation was neither open to debate nor susceptible to shifting political whims."

The professor adds, "Since its ratification, the 14th Amendment has guaranteed the belonging of some of the most vulnerable among us, including generations of children born to immigrant parents. It has protected marginalized, despised, and unpopular people who, when born here, do not need to fear exile or banishment. Birthright citizenship has always been a solution rather than a problem, and our democracy depends on it remaining just that."

Martha S. Jones' full article for The Atlantic is available at this link (subscription required).

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