State lawmakers join debate on citizenship

Lofty constitutional arguments over which children born in this country are entitled to automatic U.S. citizenship — and which ones are not — are lost on a 29-year-old expectant mother in Auburn.

A Mexican national, who is in this country illegally, believes her two children and a third on the way are no less American because she isn't.

"My children deserve the same rights as all others who were born here," she said.

But there's a movement gaining momentum nationwide that could change that.

Two Washington state lawmakers are part of a national coalition challenging birthright citizenship for children born in the U.S. to parents who are neither citizens nor legal permanent residents of this country.

The State Legislators for Legal Immigration, a network of lawmakers from 40 states, including Washington, this week unveiled a multipronged approach to addressing what the group said is a century-long misapplication of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that guarantees automatic citizenship to those born on U.S. soil.

And on Thursday, Republicans reintroduced a measure in the U.S. House of Representatives to deny citizenship to children born to illegal-immigrant parents.

Immigrant advocates call these actions "a shocking throwback to the Civil Rights era," and launched their own coalition — Americans for Constitutional Citizenship — to beat back attempts to reinterpret the 14th Amendment.

The lawmakers group unveiled model legislation to be introduced in state Legislatures — a majority now under Republican control — as part of a broader strategy to ultimately force a 14th Amendment clarification from the U.S. Supreme Court. Officials expect bills could be introduced this year in 20 states.

"The misapplication of the 14th Amendment ... is creating an anchor baby status" in this country, said Pennsylvania state Rep. Daryl Metcalf, a Republican who founded the group. "Some 300,000-plus children are born to illegal immigrants in this country" each year.

"When the alien invader comes into our country and has a child, that child is granted citizenship automatically, even though that child's parent is in the country unlawfully and realistically that parent should be taking the child back to their home country."

One of this state's two lawmakers who joined the coalition is Rep. Matt Shea, a Republican from Spokane Valley, a lawyer and a constitutional law scholar. The other is Rep. Jim McCune, a Republican from Graham, Pierce County.

"It is my belief, along with other scholars, that the United States Supreme Court has never directly ruled on the issue and a healthy legal debate is warranted," said Shea, who doesn't plan to introduce birthright legislation this year.

Automatic citizenship is enshrined in the 14th Amendment, ratified after the Civil War to confer citizenship on freed slaves. Though it has not directly addressed the question of birthright for the children of illegal immigrants, the Supreme Court over the years has ruled to protect the citizenship of children born to Chinese, Native Americans and Japanese Americans.

Yet debate over birthright citizenship has raged for years, heating up as immigration has expanded. Latinos represent the fastest-growing demographic group in the U.S. — with one-quarter of all births being to Latino mothers.

The Pew Hispanic Center reported that about 340,000 children were born in the U.S. in 2008 to illegal immigrants. Thousands more are born each year to people who are in this country legally, but without permanent status, including foreign students, workers and visitors. Their children, too, would be denied citizenship under a reinterpretation.

Opponents say the problem lies in the interpretation of the 14th Amendment — specifically the sentence: 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.

They believe the phrase, "subject to the jurisdiction thereof" refers not to babies born on U.S. soil but to their parents.

And they say that because illegal immigrants are not subject to the jurisdiction of the U.S. their children cannot therefore qualify as citizens.

The U.S. and Canada are among few developed countries that grant birthright citizenship. No Western European country does.

The expectant mother from Auburn said it surprises her that there would even be debate over the citizenship of her children.

She came to the U.S. nearly 10 years ago to join her legal-immigrant husband, and father of her two oldest children. Now divorced from him, she has a petition pending for legal status.

Immigrant advocates with Americans for Constitutional Citizenship say all Americans should be concerned over an attack on so fundamental a right.

"What has made the American experiment so successful is that it's not about what your bloodline is but always about who you are as an individual," said Karen Narasaki, president of the Washington, D.C.-based Asian-American Justice Center, a coalition member.

Narasaki, who is originally from Seattle, added: "So to many of us this is not just a threat to the Constitution or to civil rights, but a threat to the very definition of what America is about."

Lornet Turnbull: 206-464-2420