By Bill Woodruff
I have never been in favor of amending the Constitution without a serious need and a lengthy debate.
There have been hundreds of proposed Amendments but thankfully only 27 have been ratified. However it might be time for one more.
Section I of the 14th Amendment was written to grant citizenship to former slaves who were legally considered property but then became people, but not yet citizens. Go figure.
Due to time that is no longer relevant. It seems to have come full-circle since citizens are becoming debt slaves, but that”s another story.
What is relevant today is that pregnant women are illegally entering this country and having their babies here at our expense. The baby is then a U.S. citizen because he/she was born here and mother and child qualify for welfare and other benefits. How many women who are eight months pregnant go traveling in foreign countries without a visa and have their babies there accidently?
It may be quasi-legal, but to me it seems more like fraud and grand larceny. Since there are groups that facilitate this, it is also a conspiracy to commit fraud and grand larceny.
To deport the mother then becomes a convoluted issue since her child is a U.S. citizen. The child can”t be legally deported and it is unfair to punish the child, so how do we resolve the dilemma?
The 14th Amendment says, “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.”
A woman who is here illegally is not naturalized or a legal resident of any state. It seems to me that a federal law could read: “Any child born in the United States to a woman who is not a citizen or a legal resident is not subject to the jurisdiction thereof, and is not a citizen of the United States or any state.” The Supreme Court may disagree but then the way to resolve this problem would be to pass a 28th Amendment, which would repeal part of the first sentence of the 14th Amendment and add new language such as that above.
This seems absolutely fair and reasonable. This may serve us for another 143 years unless we start producing babies in the laboratory and need a new amendment. It”s a brave new world.
Bill Woodruff is a longtime Lake County resident and former business owner.
