IMO abolition or reform of birthright citizenship should be wayyy down on the priority list of changes to immigration. Just off the top of my head my priorities would be:
- Expel security risks and prevent them from returning
- Expel public safety risks and prevent them from returning, i.e. known felons
- Reduce the number of asylum applications accepted on an annual basis to the number we can actually process
- Require that asylum applications be made before entering the United States
- Expand the number of work visas issued, particularly for people living in Mexico
- Make it at least as difficult to work without authorization (citizenship, green card, or other) in the United States as it is in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, countries with which we have much in common
That would be a start.
That’s not to say that I think that birthright citizenship is a complete non-issue. I think its urgency as an issue would be greatly diminished of the reforms above were adopted. I suspect the reason it has been brought up at all is the inevitable appeals to emotion on behalf of the first two categories I’ve listed above.
I’m fully against ending birthright citizenship. I’m even more against the idea of revoking citizenship for those already granted.
The other things on your list are valid and necessary IMO.
Any birthright citizenship change will run into difficulties in the courts and might just be a distraction at best, or create new Constitutional constraints at worse. One approach would to enact a limited change to federal law that requires clear and convincing evidentiary proof that a person was born in the U.S., as well a limitations period to claim citizenship, which would be prospective. In other words, don’t change the substantive principle, change the process, though that might make it easier to make the process easier in the future.
Good list, would add keep track of who is coming, when they are supposed to leave and make sure they do. Decide the principle of keeping families intact means coping with anchor babies and issuing work permits.