OPINION:
Liberals and some political pundits are howling mad about President Trump’s consideration of a plan to issue an executive order halting the long-standing policy of the United States granting citizenship to anyone born in our country. They claim “birthright citizenship” is a right under our Constitution. Some point to the 14th Amendment to bolster their argument. Generally speaking, relying on our Constitution is a winning strategy, but you have to apply that standard across the board, not selectively.
The 14th Amendment was passed by Congress on June 13, 1866, and ratified by a sufficient number of states on July 9, 1868. The written intent was to address the citizenship status of children of former slaves. I would argue our Founding Fathers could never have foreseen millions of illegal aliens from Mexico, Guatemala and El Salvador in our country bearing so-called “anchor babies.”
The same liberals that are hollering about the 14th Amendment seem to be less aggressive when it comes to our Second Amendment. In the case of the latter, liberals claim our Founding Fathers could never have envisioned the production of semi-automatic rifles and handguns, and therefore the Second Amendment should only apply to single shot rifles, like the muskets that were prevalent at the time of ratification.
Sorry, my liberal friends, you can’t have it both ways. When you cease arguing the Second Amendment wasn’t intended to allow ownership of so-called “assault rifles,” I’ll cease arguing that “birthright citizenship” doesn’t apply to illegal aliens. Deal?
RANDALL STEPHENS
Falls Church, Va.
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