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'Birthright citizenship' should be conditional

Letter date: 
Thursday, May 21, 2015
Letter publisher: 
Statesman Journal
Letter author: 
James Faulkner
Letter link: 
Read the original letter
Letter body: 

I take exception to the May 6 Knoxville (Tennessee) News Sentinel editorial excerpt reprinted on May 13.

This so-called "birthright citizenship" was not in the Constitution until July 9, 1868, by way of Section 1 of the XIV Amendment. This was three years after the XIII Amendment, which abolished slavery, and this section had a different intended purpose.

It seems reasonable that a person born here should automatically be a U.S. citizen only if at least one of their parents is a citizen.

I believe that the U.S. has had immigration quotas throughout our history. Most immigrants in the past had to travel here by ship, not just walk across a porous border.

Why do some people not understand the definition of "illegal"?

James Faulkner

Salem
 

Oregonians For Immigration Reform

Advocating for an environmentally sustainable level of immigration

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