Citizenship shall be automatically given to children born in the United States territory even if both or none of their parents are citizens or legal residents of the United States. Currently, United States citizenship is granted to any individual born within United States territory, regardless of the citizenship status of the individual’s parents. US citizenship, however, has long been up for debate in the nation’s history. In the 1857 Supreme Court case of Dred Scott vs. Sanford, the Supreme Court denied citizenship to an African-American slave who sued for his freedom. The Court ruled that people of African descent could never be citizens of the United States of America. In the aftermath of this ruling, the United States would turn to amending the Constitution. The fourteenth amendment of the Constitution, ratified on July 9, 1868, states “[a]ll 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”, thus overturning the Dred Scott decision and changing the legal principle and convention of granting citizenship. In the 1898 Supreme Court case of United States vs. Wong Kim Ark, the Supreme Court upheld the Fourteenth Amendment and ruled that citizenship applied to anyone who was born within the United States, regardless of ethnicity or national origin. Although the United States has been constantly denied citizenship to immigrants, it is not an effective way to deal with the problems of illegal immigration.

In 1862 during the affirmation of citizenship of African-Americans, President Lincoln’s Attorney General claimed “[a]s far as I know . . . you and I have no better title to the citizenship which we enjoy than the 'accident of birth' -- the fact that we happened to be born in the United States.” Throughout this nation’s history, Constitutional method has been to grant citizenship to any one born within the territorial limits of the United States. When Congress undertakes to tamper through the amendment process with the most basic presuppositions of American constitutionalism, it should do so with exceeding caution and restraint. From the earliest days of the United States, the leaders and the Constitution have overcome the obstacles of slavery and tribal Native Americans to grant citizenship to all those born on American soil. It would be unconstitutional and un-American to deny citizenship now to all those not born to American citizens and cut off the opportunity that has defined our nation’s principles and attracted much of the prosperity we now enjoy.

The Fourteenth Amendment guarantees the right of citizenship to any individual born within the territory of the United States. Congressional legislation would not be enough to change this right. An amendment to the Constitution would have to be made to change the rules of citizenship. For an amendment to the Constitution to be passed, two-thirds majority is needed in the House and Senate, and then 38 of the 50 states would need to ratify it. This is a very difficult process for an amendment to go through and end up passing. With a large population of illegal aliens in many states, many legislators would also be persuaded not to vote for this amendment. This Constitutional and legislative barrier would make it very hard to change and undo a previous amendment that is important as a right to United States born children.

The United States cannot and should not try to solve the difficult problems illegal immigration poses by denying citizenship to people whose claim to be recognized as Americans rests on the same constitutional basis as that of any natural-born citizen. Illegal immigration should be dealt with through legislation protecting the borders and instituting methods to account for all individuals within the United States. Refusing to grant citizenship to illegal or legal aliens will only spark protest and a feeling of animosity from many immigrants and their nations. Illegal immigration will still largely occur because of job opportunities and the higher standard of living that the United States presents.

By not automatically giving children born in the United States territory citizenship, would bluntly contradict the nation's constitutional history and constitutional traditions, it would deny citizenship to certain classes of alien parents would be useless alone and extremely hard to institute in American law and rights, and it is not an effective way to deal with the problems of illegal immigration.

Works Cited

Dellinger, Walter. Legislation Denying Citizenship At Birth to Certain Children Born in the United States. 13 December 1995. United States Department of Justice. 01 February 2007 <http://www.usdoj.gov/olc/deny.tes.31.htm>

Eastman, John C. From Feudalism to Consent: Rethinking Birthright Citizenship. 30 March 2006. The Heritage Foundation. 01 February 2007 <http://www.heritage.org/Research/LegalIssues/lm18.cfm>

Sutherland, Howard. Citizen Hamdi: The Case Against Birthright Citizenship. 27 September 2004. Minnesotans For Sustainability. 01 February 1, 2007 <http://www.mnforsustain.org/immg_case_against_birthright_citizenship_hamdi.htm>

Wales, Richard B. US Law Relating to Dual Citizenship. 10 September 2006. No Associated Organization. 01 February 2007 <http://www.richw.org/dualcit/law.html>