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Nick Rosa
Prof. Talarico
Eng. 100
May 11, 2015
Immigration
America has been a country with open doors since its establishment 1776,
making it one of the most diverse countries in the world. It is this diversity and
acceptance of people of any color or creed that has made America what it is today. The
14th amendment gives citizenship to All persons born or naturalized in the United
States, and any change to this would have a drastic effect on immigrants across the
country and potentially change what it means to be an American. In the essay The
Case for Birthright Citizenship by Linda Chavez she discusses how birthright
citizenship has had a huge impact on the United States and why it should stay the
same. Those who do not support birthright citizenship state that the 14 th amendment
was originally intended to guarantee citizenship to freed slaves, not to the offspring of
illegal immigrants. Although this statement is technically true, it also important to note
that at that time there was no illegal immigrants because immigration was not
regulated. People were free to enter the country, start a family and naturalize if inclined.
A significant reason as to why the United States is such a great country is the broad
view of who is or isnt an American. Freeman suggests that we continue to keep that
expansive view and instead of ratifying the 14 th amendment we help them (anchor
babies) become good Americans.

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Approximately 12 million undocumented immigrants live in the United States,

thats a lot of people not paying taxes, and birthright citizenship gives immigrants even
more incentive to continue to enter the United States illegally. In the essay An
Argument to be made about Immigrant Babies and Citizenship by George F. Will, he
tells us how a simple ratification to the 14 th amendment could significantly help America.
Our founding fathers introduced the 14th amendment to guarantee citizenship to freed
slaves, and as Chavez states in her essay at the time there was no immigration
regulation. Knowing these facts Will states that if our founding fathers had foreseen the
abrupt increase in immigration Is it reasonable to presume that they (U.S. founding
fathers) would have wanted to give the reward of citizenship to the children of the
violators of those laws (illegal immigration)? Surely not. If you were to grant citizenship
to the children of illegal immigrants, it would only prompt more illegal immigrants to
continue to do the same thing, and thus the induction of anchor babies. Anchor babies
are children born of illegal immigrants in the United States that are used to gain access
to the support of our government without the parents being citizens themselves. With
millions of children receiving birthright citizenship every year, that is potentially a large
amount of people taking advantage of the United States government. Continued
exploitation of American government can only lead to an even more unstable economy.
There were several cases debating the nuances in the verbiage of the 14th amendment
but no one stated the harsh truth better than Lino Graglia of the University of Texas Law
School, There cannot be a more total or forceful denial of consent to a person
citizenship than to make the source of that persons presence in the nation illegal. An
illegal act should not be rewarded under any circumstance.

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The United States is built on the sweat of immigrants, my grandparents were

immigrants themselves. They are the essence of all that it is to be an American. As the
nation stands today with illegal immigration such a common occurrence, maybe the
standards or requirements to attain legal citizenship should be adjusted. This could
possibly alleviate the exploitation the United States is experiencing via birthright
citizenship. Though I completely support the existence of birthright citizenship, the 14 th
amendment as it is today is flawed. Though I dont know a perfect solution I feel that
there must be some middle ground to keep all of us happy. Lowering the bar of difficulty
to gain citizenship could definitely ease the strain on immigrants trying to enter the
country. One the greatest aspects of United States is that you can become an American
no matter who you are, or where youre from, and I hope it stays that way.