Immigration and the Constitution (by Rachel E.)

In the Constitution of the United States, the word immigration is never mentioned. Only the 14th Amendment to the Constitution refers to immigration, stating,

 

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and the state wherein they reside.

 

This is a problem because many immigrants therefore have "anchor babies", which enable them to stay in the country because this child is legally a citizen. A senator from Arizona is proposing a bill that would deny citizenship to anchor babies (explained in this article). I see where he is coming from, because I do not believe that illegal immigrants should be allowed to stay in our country whether they have anchor babies or not. However, this bill is unconstitutional because the Constitution states that any person born on American soil is a citizen. This was written to give free black slaves citizenship, but it still applies to today's politics. A bill that is unconstitutional should not be passed and enacted.