[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 46 (Friday, March 21, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E547]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     AMERICAN CITIZENSHIP AMENDMENT

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. RON PAUL

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 20, 2003

  Mr. PAUL. Mr. Speaker, I rise to introduce the American Citizenship 
Amendment. Under current U.S. laws, any person born on American soil 
can claim American citizenship, regardless of the citizenship of that 
child's parents. This means that any alien who happens to give birth in 
the United States has just given birth to an American citizen, eligible 
for all the benefits and privileges afforded to citizens.
  Mr. Speaker, this is unacceptable and is far from what our Founders 
intended when they drafted the Constitution. It undermines the very 
concept of citizenship as enshrined in the United States Constitution: 
to be constitutionally entitled to U.S. citizenship one must be ``born 
. . . in the United States'' and ``subject to the jurisdiction 
thereof.'' This second, and most important, part means that in order to 
gain U.S. citizenship one must owe and actively express allegiance to 
the United States in addition to the act of being born on United States 
soil.
  What the current state of events has led to is a booming business in 
smuggling pregnant mothers over the border to give birth to new 
``American'' citizens, who in turn become eligible for all the benefits 
thereof. Practically, what this does is cheapen citizenship: rather 
than impart all the obligations and responsibilities of being an 
American it becomes merely a ticket to welfare and other benefits. The 
history of the United States is that of immigrants: individuals from 
diverse backgrounds accepted the obligations of citizenship in exchange 
for the great benefits of living in the freest nation on earth.
  This proposed Constitutional amendment restores the concept of 
American citizenship to that of our Founders. This legislation simply 
states that no child born in the United States whose mother and father 
do not possess citizenship or owe permanent allegiance to the United 
States shall be a citizen of the United States. It is essential to the 
future of our constitutional republic that citizenship be something of 
value, something to be cherished. It cannot be viewed as merely an 
express train into the welfare state.

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