Anchor Babies and the Immigration Issue

No, Anchor Baby isn't a trendy new toy or the name of a boat.

It's a derogatory term applied to babies born on U.S. soil to illegal immigrants. And it's becoming more common as a segment of the population advocates the repeal of the Fourteenth Amendment.

After the Civil War, Congress passed the 14th Amendment.

The first article reads, in part: 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. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States….

But now a portion of the population, the very same people who often speak of how sacrosanct the Constitution is, advocates cutting the Fourteenth. Why? To prevent babies born to illegal immigrants from becoming citizens.

That may seem like a clever quick fix for the immigration puzzle, but it's not.

True, there is a problem with immigration policy. We lack a coherent strategy; the recent situation in Arizona aptly illustrates what happens when a problem festers. True, there are people who give birth on American soil as a way to anchor themselves into the U.S. system.

But repealing the 14th will not fix the issue. Doing so wouldn't treat the root cause of the problem. And doing so wouldn't do anything toward forming comprehensive immigration reform.

Repealing the 14th is also bad policy because birthright citizenship is one of the things that differentiates our nation from others. Children born here shouldn't be denied citizenship because of what their parents did, or didn't do. There are countries that do that – Switzerland comes to mind. Children born of immigrants on Swiss soil – legal immigrants – are not automatically Swiss citizens. It takes years for these children to become citizens.

It took the Civil War for the Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments to the Constitution, to become the standard bearer of freedoms Americans enjoy today, according to Akhil Reed Amar, Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science at Yale University.

"This Bill of Rights didn't mean very much at all until the Fourteenth Amendment. It didn't' really protect at first," said Amar during a presentation at the Wilton Library. And only recently did the courts start to uphold these rights.

Illegal immigrants account for between 1.3 and 3.4 percent of Connecticut's population. With about 10 weeks left until mid-term elections the debate over immigration will likely increase. In that time the discourse needs to become less emotional and more rational if it's to move forward in a meaningful way.

And as the issue is deliberated, consider this: the U.S. Constitution has only been amended 27 times in its 221 years. And save for the 18th amendment - prohibition – amendments grant more freedom and create more equality, never less.