The Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution guarantees the right that any person born in the United States is a citizen no matter the status of their parents. Over the years the Supreme Court has upheld birthright citizenship in cases like Plyler v. Doe and Unites States v. Wong Kim Ark. Recently, this right has been questioned by the anti-immigrant groups who have been introducing bills in Congress that would end the right to birthright citizenship.
The elimination of birthright citizenship would only make the growing problem of illegal immigrants worse and also make it harder for Americans to prove their citizenship. If the new laws proposed were passed, the children born in the United States to illegal immigrants would not have U.S. citizenship nor the citizenship of their parent’s country creating even more problems. This issue would not only affect illegal immigrants but also temporary workers in the United States on H-1B, F1, E1, E2, L1, L2, and many other temporary visa status’, not to mention those awaiting a Green Card on another status such as AOS/EAD.
Comprehensive immigration reform that solves the root causes of undocumented immigration is necessary to resolve our immigration problems, not amending the U.S. Constitution.