# Birthright citizenship



## Glinda (Apr 12, 2015)

Should birthright citizenship be extended only to the children of U.S. citizens?  The U.S. is one of the few countries that extends this right to "undocumented immigrants."  Should we?


----------



## Warrigal (Apr 12, 2015)

In Australia the kids have to be 10 years old before their birth status is recognised.


----------



## Butterfly (Apr 12, 2015)

I believe it should stay as it is -- if you're born here, you're a citizen.


----------



## Butterfly (Apr 12, 2015)

Dame Warrigal said:


> In Australia the kids have to be 10 years old before their birth status is recognised.



So until the age of 10, a child has NO citizenship anywhere?


----------



## Warrigal (Apr 12, 2015)

The reason why the 10 year rule applies over here is to make deportation of the parents easier.
 After 10, they still deport the parents but tell them they either take the kids with them or leave them here alone or in the custody of legal relatives..

 Bloody heartless policy.


----------



## Warrigal (Apr 12, 2015)

Butterfly said:


> So until the age of 10, a child has NO citizenship anywhere?



I'm guessing that they have the parents' citizenship but in the case of refugees that doesn't seem like much of a blessing.


----------



## Josiah (Apr 13, 2015)

I'd never thought much about it. It seems obvious that in the current world situation the Western European countries feel no obligation to adopt such a law. Canada has such a law but they don't have a border with countries with populations intent on improving their situation by illegally immigrating. So birthright citizenship is a fact of life primarily in the US. It made sense in the 19th and early 20th century when we were anxious to increase the population of this nation, but it doesn't make so much sense now. 

I guess my view would be that as part of a major immigration reform package which provided a path to citizenship to illegal aliens who have lived in the US for a number of years, their children born in the US would be offered an even easier path to citizenship but not automatic birthright citizenship.


----------



## Ameriscot (Apr 13, 2015)

I think Ireland still give citizenship, but nowhere else in Europe.

Correction:  Ireland repealed it.

https://www.numbersusa.com/content/.../nations-granting-birthright-citizenship.html


----------



## BobF (Apr 13, 2015)

The US is getting heavily ripped off along our southern border.   Our border patrols are weak and in some areas not allowed to challenge the incoming at all.   Therefore we are having thousands of children and young adults enter the US along our southern borders.   Many, if not most, are caught on the US side and then kept in collecting areas for future dispositions.   Truly a sad situation for all.   Why should we allow them to cross our borders as we do.   The states don't want those burdens but the feds seem to think it is OK.   And it is not all the feds, but some in good positions allow this to happen.   The border patrol is a federal group but they are told to look the other way far too often.


----------



## jujube (Apr 13, 2015)

My daughter was born in Turkey while we were stationed there.  Had she been a boy, she could have applied for dual citizenship.  As a girl, no dice.


----------



## QuickSilver (Apr 13, 2015)

BobF said:


> The US is getting heavily ripped off along our southern border.   Our border patrols are weak and in some areas not allowed to challenge the incoming at all.   Therefore we are having thousands of children and young adults enter the US along our southern borders.   Many, if not most, are caught on the US side and then kept in collecting areas for future dispositions.   Truly a sad situation for all.   Why should we allow them to cross our borders as we do.   The states don't want those burdens but the feds seem to think it is OK.   And it is not all the feds, but some in good positions allow this to happen.   The border patrol is a federal group but they are told to look the other way far too often.



Wrong again BOBBY......  Our immigration rate is a net Negative...  You really have to stop listening to FOX..   There are no hoards of Mexicans storming our boarders... it's a hallucination Fox and other Conservative talking heads love to share.

http://polipundit.com/?p=37718



> A four-decade tidal wave of Mexican immigration to the United States has receded, causing a historic shift in migration patterns as more Mexicans now leave the United States for Mexico than the other way around, according to a report from the Pew Hispanic Center.
> It is the first reversal in the trend since the Depression, and experts say that a declining Mexican birthrate and other factors may make it permanent.
> “I think the massive boom in Mexican immigration is over and I don’t think it will ever return to the numbers we saw in the 1990s and 2000s,” said Douglas Massey, a professor of sociology and public affairs at Princeton University and co-director of the Mexican Migration Project, which has been gathering data on the subject for 30 years.
> Nearly 1.4 million Mexicans moved from the United States to Mexico between 2005 and 2010, double the number who came a decade earlier. The number of Mexicans who moved to the United States during that period fell to less than half of the 3 million who came between 1995 and 2000.
> ...


.


----------



## BobF (Apr 13, 2015)

First off 'lady smart mouth', you point to Mexican immigrations, I was not saying Mexican immigrations at all.   Not one word about Mexican and as our news has shown us it is from many nations.   There have been films of folks riding on trains and coming by buses and then being allowed to cross into the US.   I have no idea where you get your smarts but they are definitely very biased and wrong.

Read this article and as far as I know this is still happening.   And this is not FOX NEWS either.   When will you ever grow up?

Have a good day.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/06/17/children-surge-immigration-texas/10643609/

*Immigrant children continue to surge into South Texas*




 Rick Jervis, USA TODAY 5:27 p.m. EDT June 17, 2014

MISSION, Texas – A group of around 250 immigrants, mostly children, trotted across the U.S. border near the Anzalduas International Bridge here earlier this month and climbed atop a river levee.

Then,  instead of sneaking around Border Patrol checkpoints or cramming into  vans for safe houses farther north, the group did something peculiar for  those crossing illegally into the USA: They squatted on the levee and  awaited their arrest.

The group was part of the recent surge of  unaccompanied minors who are streaming into this hot, flat stretch of  South Texas, overwhelming Border Patrol facilities and sparking heated  debate in Washington over what's causing the crisis and how to handle  it.

One key difference the recent arrivals are displaying from  their predecessors: They're not bothering to sneak deeper into Texas,  opting instead to turn themselves in and allow U.S. policy toward  immigrant youth decide their fate, said Chris Cabrera, a McAllen-based  Border Patrol agent and vice president of the local chapter of the National Border Patrol Council.

"We're  seeing record numbers of children coming across," he said. "We're  dealing with so many of them turning themselves in that it makes it hard  for our agents to focus on anything else."

The number of  immigrant children served by the Office of Refugee Resettlement, which  is responsible for the youth, has soared from around 7,000 to 8,000 a  year earlier this decade to 13,625 in fiscal year 2012  and 24,668 last  fiscal year, according to the office. So far this year, the agency has  counted more than 42,000.

The children are crossing over from Mexico but are predominantly from Central American countries, such as Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala. On Friday, Vice President Joe Biden is expected to meet with Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina, along with Salvadoran and Honduran officials, in Guatemala to discuss the crisis.

Administration  officials have said violence and economic hardship in those countries  are prompting the children to seek a better life in the USA. Some  lawmakers, however, argue the youths – and the smuggling rings bringing  them in – are exploiting U.S. policy, which allows youngsters from  Central American countries other than Mexico to be released to an adult  living in the USA while awaiting their court hearing. Mexican youth are  returned to an agency in that country.

Meanwhile, they continue to  arrive, filling up facilities faster than officials can open them. In  South Texas, where the bulk of the surge is coming through, more than  1,600 youths have filled up 13 shelters, said Kimi Jackson, of the South  Texas Pro Bono Asylum Representation Project, one of the few agencies  that has met with the detained children. Federal officials have also  opened temporary facilities at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, in Ventura, Calif., and in Fort Sill, Okla., to deal with the overflow.


----------



## QuickSilver (Apr 13, 2015)

> First off 'lady smart mouth', you point to Mexican immigrations, I was not saying Mexican immigrations at all.   Not one word about Mexican and as our news has shown us it is from many nations.   There have been films of folks riding on trains and coming by buses and then being allowed to cross into the US.   I have no idea where you get your smarts but they are definitely very biased and wrong.
> 
> Read this article and as far as I know this is still happening.   And this is not FOX NEWS either.   When will you ever grow up?



What part on NO NAME CALLING is it that you are not quite able to understand?  I don't understand why you continue to be so nasty all the time?  What is wrong with you?  If you notice... there are very few that even bother to debate with you..  Did you ever wonder why?   I've reported it.. and I am putting you on ignore.. you can talk to yourself now.... all you want.


----------



## BobF (Apr 13, 2015)

QuickSilver said:


> What part on NO NAME CALLING is it that you are not quite able to understand?  I don't understand why you continue to be so nasty all the time?  What is wrong with you?  If you notice... there are very few that even bother to debate with you..  Did you ever wonder why?   I've reported it.. and I am putting you on ignore.. you can talk to yourself now.... all you want.



When you learn to stop being such a jerk, then I will start responding less like you are doing to others.


----------



## Matrix (Apr 13, 2015)

Our moderation efforts are to improve the forum for all users, repeatedly having to address this behavior should not be necessary. We don't have many rules, but ask that everyone is respectful of each other. Members who are frequently having to deal with condescending attitudes and remarks, will eventually react, that's human nature. Please show restraint when wanting to use sarcasm or disparaging comments in these discussions. All members regardless of political affiliation deserve this common courtesy. Thanks for your cooperation.


----------



## Josiah (Apr 13, 2015)

Glinda, May we have your views on birthright citizenship?


----------



## Shirley (Apr 13, 2015)

Matrix said:


> Our moderation efforts are to improve the forum for all users, repeatedly having to address this behavior should not be necessary. We don't have many rules, but ask that everyone is respectful of each other. Members who are frequently having to deal with condescending attitudes and remarks, will eventually react, that's human nature. Please show restraint when wanting to use sarcasm or disparaging comments in these discussions. All members regardless of political affiliation deserve this common courtesy. Thanks for your cooperation.



Matrix, that was a decision worthy of Solomon. I take back everything I ever thought about you.


----------



## Glinda (Apr 13, 2015)

Josiah said:


> Glinda, May we have your views on birthright citizenship?



I can certainly see how a child would benefit from obtaining the generous gift of U.S. citizenship simply because his/her mother was in the right place at the right time.  But I fail to see how the U.S. benefits from this policy.  According to what I've read, the U.S. and Canada are the only developed countries that offer such a gift.  It may have made sense in 1915 but in 2015?  Not so much.


----------



## Warrigal (Apr 13, 2015)

What does International Law say? 
A person has a right to a nationality. 
A baby cannot be born stateless.


----------



## Jackie22 (Apr 14, 2015)

Glinda said:


> I can certainly see how a child would benefit from obtaining the generous gift of U.S. citizenship simply because his/her mother was in the right place at the right time.  But I fail to see how the U.S. benefits from this policy.  According to what I've read, the U.S. and Canada are the only developed countries that offer such a gift.  It may have made sense in 1915 but in 2015?  Not so much.



I tend to agree with you, Glinda, also the way Australia handles this issue, the way Warri describes it,  makes a lot of sense to me.


----------



## Warrigal (Apr 14, 2015)

I hate what we do over here. It is mean spirited and I believe that we as a people are better than that.
 When did we turn into a nation of mean bastards*** ?

If a pregnant woman arrives here by boat seeking asylum, her baby, even if born in Darwin, is classified as " an illegal maritime immigrant" and sent off to Nauru, never to be allowed to settle in Australia.

 *** Nothing is worse in the eyes of an Aussie than a mean bastard yet that is what we have become.


----------



## Jackie22 (Apr 14, 2015)

Dame Warrigal said:


> I hate what we do over here. It is mean spirited and I believe that we as a people are better than that.
> When did we turn into a nation of mean bastards*** ?
> 
> If a pregnant woman arrives here by boat seeking asylum, her baby, even if born in Darwin, is classified as " an illegal maritime immigrant" and sent off to Nauru, never to be allowed to settle in Australia.
> ...



I understand, Warri, but the US immigration situation has gotten out of hand, I just think there needs to be tougher immigration reform here.


----------

