Tag Archives: anchor babies

My impassioned 72-year-old Twitter pal, who goes by the name 42bkdodgr, would like to share his feelings about the GOBP, aka the Party of Hell No. I am more than happy to oblige.

But first, a personal note from 42bkdodgr:

Many of you may wonder why I chose to use the “ 72 year old friend” as the introduction to my Special Comments. I selected the moniker so readers could see that from my age and life experiences I give a different perspective to the issues of today.

Now for his Special Comment:

Absurdity

We have all recently heard the Right Wing, including Senators Kyl,  Graham and McConnell calling for a Constitution amendment to repeal Section 1 of the 14th amendment to the Constitution that guarantees “All persons born or naturalized in the United State, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside“.

I believe most people, when they hear this, think the repeal will only apply to Mexicans and other Latinos who came to this country illegally.

What they don’t understand is thta there are many people living in America illegally who have stayed beyond the time allowed by their student or work visas and have made a life for themselves and their families in America. These can include people from Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.

It makes me laugh, how the right wing seems to have no problem with repealing the 14th amendment that will affect the lives of innocent children who have done nothing wrong; they were born to parents who came here illegally, yet when you bring up the subject of amending the 2nd amendment of the Constitution, these same people go absolutely nuts.

So much for conservatives being strict followers of the Constitution. I guess they believe in following the Constitution only when it meets their agenda.

I guess guns are more important to them than the lives of innocent children. This doesn’t come as a surprise to me, as these are the same people who were against HCR, that provides among other things, health insurance coverage for children with pre-existing conditions.

What do these people have against children?

A Constitutional amendment could take up to ten years to be passed or not passed, between the time a bill is passed by a 2/3 majority of Congress and then ratified or approved by ¾ of the states.

Many questions would have to be addressed by Congress while adopting a bill before it can be sent to states for approval. If Republicans thought the HCR Bill was voluminous, wait until they get a look at a bill addressing “anchor babies”.

I find it disgusting when addressing the issues of “anchor babies“ conservatives, like Graham, use the term of  “dropping a baby” when talking about why women come to America. I find the term to be demeaning to women and their children.

Not every undocumented female immigrant comes here to have a baby for citizenship reasons;  most of them come here to make a better life for themselves.

I don’t think Graham, Kyl or McConnell realize what a hornet’s nest of issues they and the right wing are opening up, should they continue on this issue of amending the 14th amendment.

Many questions and situations will have to be addressed, such as:

*How far back do you go to find if some citizen is the child of an illegal immigrant?

* If a person is identified as an illegal immigrant, will they be required to identify their children, no matter what there ages?    

* What if the “anchor babies” are already married, what happens then?

* What if the illegal’s children have already married and have their own children, are all included under the umbrella of “anchor babies or children”?

* What is the status of “anchor babies or children” once identified?

* If they aren’t Americans, what are they, Mexicans, stateless?

* Do they have any legal rights?

* If the parents are deported, will the “anchor babies” also be deported no matter what their age?

* If  an “anchor baby” is married to a legal American citizen and has children, will the “anchor baby” be deported with their illegal parents, thereby breaking up the family unit? ( I always thought maintaining the family unit was a very important thing to right wing Christian Conservatives.)

* What if someone reports an individual as an “anchor baby” whose parents have already passed away, will that individual be deported?

These are some of the questions that immediately come to my mind. I’m sure there a hundreds of questions that others have that will have to be addressed.

That is why it’s better to try and resolve the illegal immigration issue that can be satisfactory both to the American people and illegal immigrants, rather than following an impracticable position of trying to send over 11 million people back to their native countries.

The thought of amending the 14th amendment to the Constitution is absolutely absurd.

Many thanks again for another thorough, relevant piece, 42bkdodgr. You often say what many of us are thinking and feeling, and we thank you for your unique perspective.