By Jim Renacci
When the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified in 1868, it was meant to correct a grave injustice — to ensure that formerly enslaved people, who had been denied citizenship since the founding of our nation, were rightfully recognized as American citizens.
It was not — and never was — intended to serve as a loophole for illegal immigrants to gain a foothold in the U.S. by giving birth on American soil.
Yet here we are.
The concept of “birthright citizenship,” once a narrowly applied corrective to slavery-era discrimination, has become a tool abused by those seeking to game our immigration system.
Worse still, it’s enabled by activist judges who twist the plain meaning of our laws and by politicians too weak to speak the truth.
Very recently, the high court heard arguments related to the Trump administration’s effort to end this abuse.
But instead of tackling the constitutional question head-on —whether children born to illegal immigrants are automatically entitled to U.S. citizenship — the debate is bogged down in procedural weeds.
Justices debated injunctions and legal technicalities.
Today’s arguments have to do with whether local justices have the authority to make rulings that impact the entire country, even if unconstitutionally.
This is a fundamental consequence of years of bastardization by players with agendas antithetical to our Constitution.
Let’s be clear.
The 14th Amendment says, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens.”
That phrase — “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” — is key.
It was never intended to apply to foreign nationals who are in the country illegally.
The authors of the amendment were explicit about this.
They meant to exclude diplomats, foreign soldiers, and yes, illegal immigrants.
Even liberal legal scholars have acknowledged this original intent.
In fact, Sen. Jacob Howard of Michigan, who authored the citizenship clause, made clear on the Senate floor that it was meant to include freed slaves and exclude “persons born in the United States who are foreigners, aliens, [or] who belong to the families of ambassadors or foreign ministers.”
Yet judicial activists in the 20th century began expanding the meaning of the clause far beyond its historical bounds.
And now, we have an entire system that incentivizes people to cross our borders illegally, have a child, and claim that child is an American citizen entitled to taxpayer-funded benefits.
It’s fundamentally absurd.
That’s not immigration.
That’s mass manipulation.
Now, we find ourselves waiting for a Supreme Court to debate a procedural issue that never should have been before it in the first place.
It’s long past time for conservatives to push back.
