Rand Paul on Immigration

U.S. Senate hopeful Rand Paul is at it again, only this time on more firm ground. He has said that the babies born here of illegal immigrants should not be granted citizenship. The point has merit and needs to be discussed.

The most immediate and glaring problem with the issue is no less than Paul's own vaunted United States Constitution. The 14th Amendment gives citizenship to everyone born in the United States, so it appears that it would take a Constitutional Amendment to alter that. Yet there are exceptions to that: people must be 'within the jurisdiction' of the United States for the 14th Amendment to apply. This exempts the children of foreign diplomats who may be born on US soil.

That may be the football which Mr. Paul and his associates are willing to run with, seeing as the parents are here wrongly and, at least arguably, not under the pure or complete jurisdiction of Washington. It certainly is not a matter which isolates Rand Paul from the pack. Ninety co-sponsors signed on to the proposed Birthright Citizenship Act introduced into the House last year, which would have exempted the babies of illegals from citizenship.

We're going to throw a little traditionally liberal constitutional argument out there for further consideration. How often do our liberal friends argue that the Constitution is a 'living document' subject to different interpretations through history? Quite often, they tell us that we should not see the Supreme Law of the Land as literal but fluid. Perhaps the amendment makers could not have anticipated the modern situation and would expect us to overlay our current view of what the 14th Amendment means over what they in fact meant. It may be chutzpah for libertarian conservatives to use this approach. But it would be, in this case anyway, delicious.

However the issue is addressed, there is a very real moral point at stake here: do people merit citizenship solely and completely on the basis of being born here? The answer is no. If the Constitution is unclear on the matter, then it must be cleared up. If it is clear but wrong, it must be changed. Rand Paul and his allies are no racists here, either. He was very clear that he doesn't mind people coming here to work and be part of the United States. If they come through the front door.

If there is a more rational and unbiased approach to immigration, we cannot fathom it. If you don't deserve to be here then you don't deserve to be here. It is time we stopped burning our resources on those who do not meet the legitimate standards of citizenship.