Proposals to deny citizenship to illegal immigrants' children in the works, lawmaker says by Paul Davenport and Amanda Myers - Oct. 19, 2010 09:43 AM
Associated Press
Lawmakers in states across the country are combining to work on proposed legislation to deny U.S. citizenship to children born in this country to parents who are illegal immigrants, the sponsor of Arizona's 2010 law targeting illegal immigration said Tuesday.
"We're taking a leadership role on things that need to be fixed in America. We can't get Congress to do it," said Republican state Sen. Russell Pearce. "It's a national work group so that we have model legislation that we know will be successful, that meets the constitutional criteria."
The efforts by some state legislators comes amid calls to change the Constitution's 14th Amendment to deny automatic citizenship to U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants. They cite costs to taxpayers for services provided to illegal immigrants and their children.
Pennsylvania state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, the founder of a national group of legislators critical of illegal immigration, said the 14th Amendment "greatly incentives foreign invaders to violate our border and our laws." He had a news conference in Harrisburg on the multistate effort.
Pearce was the main sponsor of a controversial Arizona law on illegal immigration and state and local law enforcement. Key provisions have been put on hold by a judge pending resolution of a legal challenge. He also was the chief sponsor of a 2007 state law targeting employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants.
Pearce and fellow Arizona legislators plan a Tuesday afternoon news conference to announce the effort.
Pearce said the legislation has yet to be drafted, and he declined to comment on possible approaches, including whether it would focus on the issuance of state birth certificates.
"We're going to address the issue of the unconstitutional declaration of citizenship to those born to non-citizens," he said. "It is a violation of the 14th Amendment," Pearce said.
Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/news/election/azelections/articles/2010/10/19/20101019deny-us-citizenship-to-children-of-illegal-immigrants-russell-pearce-national-pl.html#ixzz12qI2FrXN
Poster Comment:
AZ state senator Pearce!