In the kerfuffle over Donald Trump’s executive order on birthright citizenship there have been quite some number of opinion pieces and articles forthcoming. One of those I found worthwhile was this this one by Michael Anton at The American Mind. What I found particularly interesting were his citations of the discussion around the 14th Amendment. Here’s one I found particularly interesting sine it illustrates that its authors understood the risks they were introducing:
There is nothing whatsoever in the debate that explicitly states, implies, or contextually suggests that the framers of the 14th Amendment meant to grant birthright citizenship to the children of illegal immigrants. They don’t talk about illegal immigration much because on that question, there was no need for debate. The children of persons “subject to any foreign power,” “owing allegiance to anybody else” were—all agreed and the law already declared—not citizens.
When they do talk about immigration—particularly Senator Cowan—they express concern that the amendment be carefully drafted so as not to allow or provoke unchecked immigration by offering too broad a definition of citizenship. (As an aside, I note that Senator Cowen’s long speech is quite triggering to our ears in 2018. It’s amusing to be called “racist” by people whose arguments rest on the views of men whose words I blush to read.)
One of the aspects of our situation today which most commentators miss is that we are facing unprecedented circumstances today. With 15% immigrant population and rising we have the highest immigrant population in the nation’s history. Furthermore, that so large a proportion of our immigrant population comes from a single country, that country shares a land border with the United States, people from that country think of large areas of the U. S. to rightfully belong to their country of origin, a high percentage of those who come here never seek citizenship, and they continue to participate in their country of origin’s politics provides challenges that are unique to our present situation.