Letter to the editor

Donald Trump has stated that babies of illegals should not be considered U.S. citizens. I believe he is right. The 14th amendment 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.”

It was passed to insure the newly freed slaves would be American citizens. But, it was really not that radical, as previous American common law considered anyone born here to be a citizen, a standard passed down to us from British law.

Interestingly, this was contrary to old Roman law that traced citizenship of the parents and which is the law in most countries currently and which we also allow as well.

But the law has to be looked at in the time it was made in. Foreigners didn’t sail to the new world for a few days vacation, so granting citizenship by birthplace helped to untangle who was a citizen and who was not.

The current legal standard is based on the 1898 case of United States vs. Wong Kim Ark. But, one needs to actually read the case to see what it actually held

Wong was born in San Francisco around 1871 to Chinese parents legally working, domiciled and resident there. His parents were not citizens because our law at the time prohibited immigrants from China from becoming naturalized U.S. citizens. The Supreme Court ruled Wong was a born U.S. citizen under the 14th Amendment.

This ruling is often used as the bases for claiming anyone born here is now a citizen. But, that is not what the ruling says. Under the 14th Amendment, the parents have to be subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, and Wong’s parents met that requirement easily. But not so with modern ‘anchor babies’ whose parents are not legally working and domiciled residents of the U.S.

So, how is this fixed?

Easy.

While retracting the 14th Amendment is remotely possible, it really would be of no legal benefit since the 14th Amendment was just a restatement of previous law. Congress is free to define wording to give effect to the constitutional provision: “Subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.”

While I am not a Trump supporter, it does appear that once again Trump may be proven right while the majority are again proven wrong.

Roland Riemers

Chairman N.D. Libertarian Party

1024 University Ave.,

Grand Forks, ND 58203

701-317-1803

[email protected]