I HATE the Republican Party...
THIS makes me mad. It goes against all values!
Posted on Wed, Dec. 14, 2005 in the Miami Herald (http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13403265.htm)
IMMIGRATION
Citizenship as birthright? Foes say no
A group of U.S. House Republicans is pushing to end the automatic citizenship granted to the U.S.-born children of undocumented immigrants, setting off alarm in South Florida's immigrant communities.
By CASEY WOODS AND JIM PUZZANGHER
Acwoods@herald.com
Roberto has the promise of America in his grasp -- if he gets good grades, he can get a college scholarship.
Roberto's two brothers, though, saw their scholarships taken away because their family could not provide immigration papers to the universities.
Having arrived here illegally, fleeing Colombia's decades-old civil war, Nora Pastrani's family struggles to pay the extra tuition for her older sons -- the bitter dividend of their life in the shadows of U.S. law.
''His road will be easier than it was for the others,'' said Pastrani of her youngest son, Roberto, the one born in the U.S.A., the one who's an American citizen with all the rights and security that designation affords. ``He has more opportunities.''
The future children of undocumented immigrants may not be so fortunate.
Several Republican lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives are pushing a measure this week that would deny the U.S.-born children of migrants who enter the country illegally any claim to a citizenship birthright. They call the children ''anchor babies'' because at age 21 the children can apply for their parents to obtain legal status and to bring other family members here from abroad.
Even without widespread opposition in Congress, the measure's survival would be doubtful: It would face a constitutional challenge in court. Nonetheless, it promises to make the debate over illegal immigration more divisive.
The proposed immigration overhaul is dividing the party just as President Bush seeks to broaden Republicans' reach to Hispanics, Asians and other naturalized U.S. citizens. It also has pitted the party's business interests, which count on cheap labor from immigrants, against the GOP's conservative base that long has called for stricter immigration controls.
SOUTH FLORIDA
The move has sent ripples of apprehension through immigrant communities across South Florida. Even though few immigration advocates believe the provision will actually become law this year or next, many say it is a sign of a swelling push by conservatives in the House to place unprecedented limits on the rights of immigrants.
''They really went too far with this proposal, because it's unbelievable they would deny somebody their nationality if they were born here,'' said Wilfredo Bolivar, a community organizer for the advocacy organization People Acting for Community Together or PACT.
``They need to resolve the grave problems with immigration, and the easiest thing for them to do is attack the most vulnerable groups. That is what they are doing.''
The Republicans behind the proposal say it would end an incentive for illegal immigration.
''People are coming here simply for the purpose of having a child here and then, because they're the anchor, they can have all the family come in on that child's ticket. . . . There are thousands upon thousands of people who are doing it,'' said Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., a leading opponent of illegal immigration and one of those pushing the proposal. He cited ''surprising'' momentum behind the plan, which has 77 co-sponsors in the House.
The birthright citizenship debate is rooted in the Constitution's 14th Amendment, which states, ''all persons born or naturalized in the United States'' are U.S. citizens.
Tancredo insists that those who drafted the 14th Amendment did not intend citizenship to apply to children of undocumented immigrants.
Other Republicans passionately disagree. ''I really think the [proposal] is unconstitutional, and I think the Founding Fathers decided that issue 200 years ago,'' said Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, a Miami Republican.
Many conservatives have been pressing for stronger actions against illegal immigrants, such as building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. A national poll last month by the nonpartisan Rasmussen Reports found that 49 percent favored denying citizenship to U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants, with 41 percent opposing such a proposal.
Supporters note that few countries -- none in Europe -- offer birthright citizenship.
POLITICAL `SUICIDE'
But Tamar Jacoby, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank in New York, said that's why other countries have not been as successful at integrating immigrants. The birthright proposal is the worst of the immigration proposals floating around Washington and could be political ''suicide'' for Republicans, she said.
Immigrants and their advocates dismiss the assertions that the citizenship birthright drives immigration, pointing instead to the eternal lure of U.S jobs.
''We've closed over 47,000 cases since we opened our doors in early 1996, and it's never been my understanding that's why a family came here,'' said Cheryl Little, executive director for the Miami-based Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center. ``They come here to escape political persecution, or to make a better life for themselves -- not to have a U.S.-born-citizen child who can apply for the parent to become a citizen 21 years later.''
`THIS BILL IS HORRIFIC'
The change to the citizenship policy has been proposed as an amendment to a broader immigration bill that already has many provisions alarming to immigrant communities. If passed, it would make illegal presence in the U.S. a crime, create mandatory minimum sentences for aliens convicted of reentry after removal, and make misuse of Social Security numbers and cards a deportable offense.
''This bill is horrific, and if any other country tried to do this to foreign nationals we would think it's abuse,'' said Miami immigration lawyer Tammy Fox-Isicoff. ``That's the most draconian immigration legislation to cross my path. It goes so ridiculously far you can't even imagine.''
Jim Puzzanghera is a reporter for The San Jose Mercury News
Posted on Wed, Dec. 14, 2005 in the Miami Herald (http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13403265.htm)
IMMIGRATION
Citizenship as birthright? Foes say no
A group of U.S. House Republicans is pushing to end the automatic citizenship granted to the U.S.-born children of undocumented immigrants, setting off alarm in South Florida's immigrant communities.
By CASEY WOODS AND JIM PUZZANGHER
Acwoods@herald.com
Roberto has the promise of America in his grasp -- if he gets good grades, he can get a college scholarship.
Roberto's two brothers, though, saw their scholarships taken away because their family could not provide immigration papers to the universities.
Having arrived here illegally, fleeing Colombia's decades-old civil war, Nora Pastrani's family struggles to pay the extra tuition for her older sons -- the bitter dividend of their life in the shadows of U.S. law.
''His road will be easier than it was for the others,'' said Pastrani of her youngest son, Roberto, the one born in the U.S.A., the one who's an American citizen with all the rights and security that designation affords. ``He has more opportunities.''
The future children of undocumented immigrants may not be so fortunate.
Several Republican lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives are pushing a measure this week that would deny the U.S.-born children of migrants who enter the country illegally any claim to a citizenship birthright. They call the children ''anchor babies'' because at age 21 the children can apply for their parents to obtain legal status and to bring other family members here from abroad.
Even without widespread opposition in Congress, the measure's survival would be doubtful: It would face a constitutional challenge in court. Nonetheless, it promises to make the debate over illegal immigration more divisive.
The proposed immigration overhaul is dividing the party just as President Bush seeks to broaden Republicans' reach to Hispanics, Asians and other naturalized U.S. citizens. It also has pitted the party's business interests, which count on cheap labor from immigrants, against the GOP's conservative base that long has called for stricter immigration controls.
SOUTH FLORIDA
The move has sent ripples of apprehension through immigrant communities across South Florida. Even though few immigration advocates believe the provision will actually become law this year or next, many say it is a sign of a swelling push by conservatives in the House to place unprecedented limits on the rights of immigrants.
''They really went too far with this proposal, because it's unbelievable they would deny somebody their nationality if they were born here,'' said Wilfredo Bolivar, a community organizer for the advocacy organization People Acting for Community Together or PACT.
``They need to resolve the grave problems with immigration, and the easiest thing for them to do is attack the most vulnerable groups. That is what they are doing.''
The Republicans behind the proposal say it would end an incentive for illegal immigration.
''People are coming here simply for the purpose of having a child here and then, because they're the anchor, they can have all the family come in on that child's ticket. . . . There are thousands upon thousands of people who are doing it,'' said Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., a leading opponent of illegal immigration and one of those pushing the proposal. He cited ''surprising'' momentum behind the plan, which has 77 co-sponsors in the House.
The birthright citizenship debate is rooted in the Constitution's 14th Amendment, which states, ''all persons born or naturalized in the United States'' are U.S. citizens.
Tancredo insists that those who drafted the 14th Amendment did not intend citizenship to apply to children of undocumented immigrants.
Other Republicans passionately disagree. ''I really think the [proposal] is unconstitutional, and I think the Founding Fathers decided that issue 200 years ago,'' said Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, a Miami Republican.
Many conservatives have been pressing for stronger actions against illegal immigrants, such as building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. A national poll last month by the nonpartisan Rasmussen Reports found that 49 percent favored denying citizenship to U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants, with 41 percent opposing such a proposal.
Supporters note that few countries -- none in Europe -- offer birthright citizenship.
POLITICAL `SUICIDE'
But Tamar Jacoby, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank in New York, said that's why other countries have not been as successful at integrating immigrants. The birthright proposal is the worst of the immigration proposals floating around Washington and could be political ''suicide'' for Republicans, she said.
Immigrants and their advocates dismiss the assertions that the citizenship birthright drives immigration, pointing instead to the eternal lure of U.S jobs.
''We've closed over 47,000 cases since we opened our doors in early 1996, and it's never been my understanding that's why a family came here,'' said Cheryl Little, executive director for the Miami-based Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center. ``They come here to escape political persecution, or to make a better life for themselves -- not to have a U.S.-born-citizen child who can apply for the parent to become a citizen 21 years later.''
`THIS BILL IS HORRIFIC'
The change to the citizenship policy has been proposed as an amendment to a broader immigration bill that already has many provisions alarming to immigrant communities. If passed, it would make illegal presence in the U.S. a crime, create mandatory minimum sentences for aliens convicted of reentry after removal, and make misuse of Social Security numbers and cards a deportable offense.
''This bill is horrific, and if any other country tried to do this to foreign nationals we would think it's abuse,'' said Miami immigration lawyer Tammy Fox-Isicoff. ``That's the most draconian immigration legislation to cross my path. It goes so ridiculously far you can't even imagine.''
Jim Puzzanghera is a reporter for The San Jose Mercury News