Majority of Americans Want to Keep 14th Amendment

Lawndale News Chicago's Bilingual Newspaper - Commentary

by Daniel Nardini

Despite Republican candidate Donald Trump’s rhetoric of getting rid of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, he will face popular as well as legal resistance to this. In 1896, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that all born within the United States, even those whose parents are immigrants, are entitled to U.S. citizenship. This ruling was further strengthened by a 1903 ruling that undocumented could not be thrown out of the United States without due process. It has been this way ever since. In a survey released by Telemundo and MSNBC, 62 percent of all Americans polled said they want to keep the 14th Amendment as it is.

This is significant because it is saying that all children born and raised in this country, even if one or both their parents are undocumented, should become U.S. citizens and be allowed to remain in this country. This flies in the face of not only Trump but of all Republican candidates who want to change or get rid of the 14th Amendment in order to get rid of those children of the undocumented. It means that a growing number of Americans not only do not want the U.S. Constitution to be tampered with, but that they want a humane solution to the immigration dilemma. A growing number of Americans want to see a legal pathway for the undocumented to at least become legal residents, and laws that better define who can and who cannot come into the United States.

More important, many Americans want to see an overhaul of an immigration system that would fit the needs of the U.S. economy and the needs of business. Currently, any business that wants temporary workers must wait months and even years for this to occur. Many Americans want to see this changed in order to meet a growing demand for labor when there are not enough Americans to take up the demand. All presidential candidates of the Democratic Party and leadership in the Libertarian Party see this need. It is within the ranks of the Republican Party that this need is not being addressed. Who will win the presidential election will be what determines where official immigration policy may go.

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