Immigrants’ Rights Bills Create Strong Debate

Two Republican-sponsored proposals that would remove citizenship rights of U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants and require citizenship checks before voter registrations are approved were sharply debated before a House panel on Wednesday, drawing strong opposition from the Clinton Administration.

Both issues, which already have created passionate and legal arguments on either side, offer little room for compromise as the bills begin winding their way through the House.

Proponents testified before the House Immigration subcommittee that birthright citizenship for children of illegal immigrants places immense financial burdens on states such as California that draw immigration-law violators. Also, they said, reforms are needed to fix lax voter registration rules that allegedly undermine the integrity of election results.

Opponents argued that both bills infringe on voting and civil rights. Denying automatic citizenship to U.S.-born babies whose parents are not citizens or permanent resident aliens would counter a basic constitutional guarantee, they argued.

And those speaking against the stricter citizenship checks for prospective voters said the law would intimidate voters and lead to discrimination against ethnic minorities, including citizens.

A central issue in the debate over birthright citizenship is the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which states: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States.” The amendment was approved after the Supreme Court denied citizenship to African Americans following the Civil War.

“To claim that you can have the right of automatic citizenship is absurd,” maintained Rep. Brian Bilbray (R-San Diego), who is sponsoring the Citizenship Reform Act. “The Supreme Court has never ruled on the children of illegal aliens getting automatic citizenship.”

Bilbray said that granting citizenship rights for children of illegal immigrants is “rewarding those who have broken the law.” About 16% of all births in California each year are to illegal immigrant mothers, the congressman said.

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Pointing to the millions of dollars in welfare payments in California alone that are going to parents of these children, San Diego County Supervisor Pam Slater testified: “We have encouraged generations of people to come to America, not out of loyalty or a sense of belonging, but instead, for money and benefits.”

The policy “is an insult to those of us who came [legally] and waited” for citizenship, said Gwat Bhattacharjie of Santa Barbara, who was born in China and waited 14 years to become a naturalized citizen of the U.S.

Disagreement came from several fronts, including Jack Kemp, the GOP’s vice presidential nominee last year, and the Justice Department.

“There are many reasons to reduce illegal immigration and there are many ways to achieve that objective. Violating a constitutional right is not one of those means, and I respectfully urge the subcommittee to reject this approach,” Kemp said in a statement submitted to the panel.

Dawn E. Johnsen, acting Assistant Atty. Gen., testified the citizenship bill “is unquestionably unconstitutional, and we cannot support it.”

“We cannot and should not try to solve the difficult problems illegal immigration poses by denying citizenship to persons whose claim to be recognized as Americans rests on the Constitution and over 200 years of history,” Johnsen said.

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The second bill by Rep. Steve Horn (R-Long Beach) would allow local election officials to ask the Social Security Administration and the Immigration and Naturalization Service to verify the citizenship of those who have applied for voter registration.

But Justice Department and Social Security Administration officials said their agencies strongly oppose the legislation because existing data bases do not have common information, were not set up for this purpose, and their use would result in inaccurate information.

The records of millions of citizens who were naturalized before 1972 are scattered across the country and do not exist on INS computers, said Associate Deputy Atty. Gen. David W. Ogden.

Similarly, the Social Security Administration reported that its record keeping system did not record whether the person had provided proof of citizenship or noncitizenship status before 1981, creating a huge gap in its ability to answer questions from local voter registrars.

Subcommittee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) asked: “If we don’t have such a system, how can we enforce the law that says illegal immigrants cannot vote?”

A spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform agreed with the chairman that the voter verification bill is a good start. K.C. McAlpin of FAIR blamed the so-called motor voter law, which requires states to make voter registration available to residents by mail or when obtaining drivers’ licenses, for inviting voter fraud abuse.

“In order to maintain the integrity of our democratic system of government, we must keep the selection of our nation’s elected representatives . . . as free of foreign and outside influence as possible,” McAlpin said.

The Orange County Board of Supervisors is scheduled to vote on Tuesday whether to support the bill in Congress that would deny automatic citizenship to children of illegal immigrants.