We The People

‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness’….. a beautiful distillation of the American Dream and the American Promise, is it not, as penned by Thomas Jefferson at the outset of our American Journey. A journey in pursuit of the perfection of the dream and the promise. We’ve come a long way, opened a lot of doors, and secured life, liberty, and pursuit for untold millions. Who could not revel in the liberty? Who would not want to participate in the pursuit?

Millions have flocked to our shores to join in the dream, some legally, some not so much. All born on American soil, whether a child of a 10th generation American or of an illegal immigrant, are automatically granted U.S. citizenship. The Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1868, 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." Sure, we want to share the blessings with ‘… the tired, the poor,the huddled masses yearning to breathe free…’, but our porous borders allow tens of thousands to step around our official immigration policies, and new ‘citizens’, born to illegals (and often called ‘anchor babies’), help seal their parents’ resident status, legal or not. Discussion of impact aside, should we allow this bestowing of citizen rights to newborns to continue to draw illegals to our country, somehow stepping to the head of the line, or should we consider amending the 14th Amendment? Food for thought………………..