Originally published July 25, 2023 4:00 pm PDT
U.S. Representative Matt Gaetz (R-FL) is poised to introduce a plan named the “End Birthright Citizenship Fraud Act of 2023.”
The legislation is aimed at putting a stop to the prevalent anchor baby policy, where children born in the United States to illegal immigrants are automatically granted American citizenship.
The policy, as it stands, enables approximately 400,000 so-called “anchor babies” to be born across the fifty states every year.
These anchor babies receive birthright citizenship regardless of their parents’ legal status in the U.S., a fact that becomes even more concerning when many of these parents are recent arrivals with no legitimate ties to the country.
The birthright citizenship policy allows these children to later sponsor their parents and foreign relatives for green cards once they attain adulthood, establishing their families in the country for many generations.
The bill Gaetz is proposing aims to modify the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) to assert that birthright citizenship applies exclusively to the U.S.-born offspring of American citizens and legal immigrants.
In a statement, Gaetz explained his motivation, saying, “Birthright citizenship has been grossly and blatantly misapplied for decades, recently becoming a loophole for illegal aliens to fraudulently abuse our immigration system.”
He further emphasized that “American citizenship is a privilege –– not an automatic right to be co-opted by illegal aliens,” and sees his legislation as a critical measure to preserve the dignity and significance of American citizenship.
He contends that citizenship should not be seen as an exploitable loophole, but rather a privilege that must be earned through legal immigration to the country.
The issue of birthright citizenship remains a contentious topic among legal scholars, with the U.S. Supreme Court yet to give an explicit ruling on whether U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants must be awarded birthright citizenship.
Several leading conservative academics assert that the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment doesn’t necessitate automatic citizenship for the U.S.-born offspring of illegal or noncitizen parents.
They argue that these children do not fall under U.S. jurisdiction, as per the interpretation of the language when the 14th Amendment was ratified.
Only a few developed countries, including the U.S. and Canada, have policies that grant birthright citizenship to anyone born within their geographical borders, irrespective of their immigration status.
In contrast, countries like Australia, France, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, New Zealand, and Spain limit birthright citizenship to children born to at least one citizen parent.
Today, around 5.8 million anchor babies reside in the U.S., Breitbart notes.
This figure is six times the population of Jacksonville, Florida.
It is estimated that these anchor babies, along with their illegal immigrant parents, cost American taxpayers more than $150 billion every year.
