I want to call attention to a statewide initiative in California that may change the debate on the automatic citizenship that is wrongly bestowed upon children born to illegal aliens and foreign visitors in the United States. The initiative is called The California Taxpayer Protection Act(1).
This initiative is being planned for the June 2010 California ballot. This may seem like a distant point on the horizon, but it’s really not when you consider the herculean efforts necessary to secure a spot on the ballot in the state. Supporters are being sought from across the nation for this important initiative.
The initiative is sponsored by the Taxpayer Revolution(2) and authored by Ted Hilton(3), a scholar of Constitutional Law and expert on the 14th Amendment’s original intent. His background includes holding the first daytime demonstrations along the border and in various communities around San Diego County beginning in 1990, demonstrating to worldwide media the lack of border fencing and illegal migrant camps with fires in public parks and on private property.
This measure has three major provisions. They would:
Create a second type of California birth certificate for children born to illegal aliens and others who are not permanent residents. The current certificate would be limited to children with at least one parent who submits an affidavit stating that he or she is a citizen or a permanent legal resident (Social Security Number verified).
Restrict illegal alien parents from applying for child-only CalWORKS benefits (TANF) for their U.S. born child by requiring lawful presence of all applicants.
Limit public benefits by requiring a signed affidavit under penalty of perjury that one is a citizen or qualified alien, and using the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) Program to verify legal residency. The SAVE Program is an inter-governmental information sharing initiative designed to aid benefit granting agency workers in determining a non-citizen applicant’s immigration status, and thereby ensure that only entitled non-citizen applicants receive federal, state, or local public benefits and licenses.
Birth mothers who are not citizens or legal residents would be required to: apply for a birth certificate in person; provide complete identity including means of support; submit three passport type photographs; and be fingerprinted. All of this information would be provided to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Such mothers also would pay an additional $75 fee.
Considering the state of California is literally bleeding to death fiscally and most legal California/U.S. citizens can’t get help from the states bureaucratic mentality this is a very common sense effort.
To qualify for the ballot, the initiative requires 433,971 signatures. Since a cushion is needed for security, the proponents are seeking a total of 550,000. The last month to begin signature gathering, which must occur over a five-month period, is June 2009. However, experts believe that the best five-month period for gathering signatures is February through June.
Supporters of “sane” immigration like Numbers-USA and other grass roots organizations has long supported ending the automatic granting of U.S. citizenship to children born here to illegal aliens and foreign visitors , finally righting a misguided and unintended interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment. Prior to the introduction of this initiative, we have promoted passage of bills in Congress to this end. Those bills have not been successful and are not likely to see action in the 111th Congress. As such, we need to consider an alternative means for moving forward.
Passing an initiative in California requiring the issuance of two types of birth certificates will ignite the national debate needed as a precursor to ending automatic citizenship. Success in California will set the stage for other states to follow and likely prompt litigation that could give the U.S. Supreme Court an opportunity to rule. The high court has never decided a citizenship case for children of temporary residents or those here illegally.
An article in the Sacramento Bee on September 10, 2007 by Washington correspondent David Whitney summed up automatic citizenship: “Although Congress has never passed a law saying so, no president has ever ordered it, and no court has ever ruled on the issue, each of these babies automatically becomes a U.S. citizen when it takes its first breath in this country.“ This is taxpayer injustice.
Our citizen’s movement will launch the national debate we need to bring an END to AUTOMATIC CITIZENSHIP in the United States of America of children of temporary residents or those here illegally.
The movement will uphold the recorded words and real intent of the authors of our Constitution. To the authors and the states which passed the 14th Amendment “subject to the jurisdiction” is to mean that citizens are born to parents who are “NOT subjects of a foreign power.“
The initiative has already been endorsed by Representatives Brian Bilbray (R-Calif.; Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus Chair) and Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), Ward Connerly (proponent of English language and other initiatives), Peter Nunez (former Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Treasury), the California American Legion, Department of California, Reps. Dana Rohrabacher, Numbers USA, and more. The campaign is currently working for support of California Republican Party groups, elected officials, and other grass roots organizations. State Senator Harman is working on support from other state representatives.
The proponents at Taxpayer Revolution are seeking assistance. You can visit the initiative’s web site and look for ways you might help. We are confident this cause would finally end this misbegotten policy of automatic citizenship that is wrongly bestowed upon children born to illegal aliens and foreign visitors in the United States.
Source materiel: Roy Beck, President, NumbersUSA: http://www.numbersusa.com/
Armand C. Hale
1) http://www.taxpayerrevolution.org/index.php?task=view&Itemid=2&option=com_content&id=2
2) http://www.taxpayerrevolution.org/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1
3) http://www.taxpayerrevolution.org/index.php?task=view&Itemid=14&option=com_content&id=4
4) Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) Program
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