Heard of the 14th amendment? Good. It’s the one that contains that catchy phrase about people born in the United States being citizens of the United States. It’s been there since pretty much the beginning of the country.
Well, Republicans have a bone to pick with it now.
Republican Congressman Steve King (IA) said recently:
I don’t think I’m hearing an argument as to why it would be a good idea to grant automatic citizenship to any baby that could be born in the United States to any mother who could find a way to get into the United States. That hands over the immigration policy to everyone except Americans. So I don’t know that that’s even a debate before this committee unless you want to expand your political base by any means necessary.
To be clear, what King is saying is that the 14th amendment is too liberal. It allows immigration into the United States to be too easy.
Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) fired back at King:
Evidently, there is no American principle too sacred not to be surrendered in Republicans’ race to pander to the most radical, anti-immigration corners of their party. Today’s hearing is an appalling Republican effort to reverse one of our most fundamental constitutional guarantees: people born on American soil are Americans.
It’s disgusting to see just how racist and scared the Republican party has become.
