Mitch McConnell Wants Hearing On 14th Amendment 'Birthright Citizenship'

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) officially supports a review of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which grants children of undocumented immigrants status as U.S. citizens, his office confirmed to the Huffington Post on Monday.

A spokesman said that the Kentucky Republican believes that "we should hold hearings" on the matter. McConnell had not previously commented on the issue before, the spokesman confirmed.

In offering his support, McConnell becomes the highest-ranking Republican figure to call for examining the reach of the 14th amendment. On Sunday, his chief deputy, Sen. John Kyl (R-Ariz.) told CBS' Face the Nation that he too would back hearings into revising citizenship laws. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) -- a one-time proponent of comprehensive immigration reform -- has explicitly called for the 14th Amendment's repeal.

The statements from GOP leaders give credence to the notion that revising longstanding citizenship laws is quickly becoming a plank of the party's platform. In the House of Representatives, Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Tex.) has introduced the Birthright Citizenship Act of 2009, which would attempt to deny children of illegal immigrants U.S. citizenship through statute rather than a constitutional amendment (thereby lowering the vote threshold). He has 93 co-sponsors for that effort including Rep. Nathan Deal, the Georgia Republican who is in a runoff to be the party's candidate for governor.

UPDATE: In an interview with The Hill, McConnell elaborates on his concerns about granting citizenship for the children of undocumented immigrants and formally calls for hearings into the matter.

"I think we ought to take a look at it -- hold hearings, listen to the experts on it," McConnell said. "I haven't made a final decision about it, but that's something that we clearly need to look at. Regardless of how you feel about the various aspects of immigration reform, I don't think anybody thinks that's something they're comfortable with."

Comments

[Caleb Owens]

02:03 PM on 08/05/2010

The only thing wrong about the 14th Amendment is the interpretation that corporations are people. That's what needs an amendment. Remove the corporate person-hood insanity/hypocrisy.

[BlueSkyPilot]

09:11 AM on 08/05/2010

Maybe we can also clarify that CORPORATIONS ARE NOT PEOPLE and get back all of the protections from abuse of citizens rights by corporations we have lost over the years.

[Michael Morrill]

03:51 PM on 08/04/2010

I would be deported under this law. I'm an an "anchor baby."

[Zoydzz]

03:29 AM on 08/05/2010

Deported to where?

[keramos]

09:55 AM on 08/05/2010

A shipyard, I guess :-)

[Hawthorne]

12:33 PM on 08/04/2010

Republicans are really playing with fire with this repeal the 14th Amendment talk. The 14th Amendment also guarantees due process and equal protection. It's main thrust was to end discrimination and segregation. There seems to be an effort by Republicans to build and ride a wave of white backlash against the growing diversity of races in the country. When you start tinkering with fundamental freedoms like due process, though, you risk a backlash against yourself. I predict that we will see Republican candidates running from their own platform in 2012.

[Patrick Murdaugh]

10:48 PM on 08/03/2010

As a Republican, I am embarrassed that a repeal or review of the 14th Amendment has even been suggested. A person born in the United States is a citizen, period. To suggest however that Dobbs' statements represent a shift in his ideology is inaccurate and short-sided. My strong support of enforced immigration restrictions has everything to do with economics and nothing to do with race. Its so much easier for the Left to claim racism than have a logical argument about the economic impact for extending free health care and free education to the poor in Latin America or any other part of the world for that matter.

[Zoydzz]

03:32 AM on 08/05/2010

Right - everything to do with money - human dignity never has been profitable. It's ethnic population control - the nice way to say cleansing through attrition - business likes attrition, easier than firing someone isn't it?

[Harvey Krishna]

09:12 PM on 08/03/2010

I don't understand. Are you saying that, rather than apply for citizenship like my grandparents had to do, my pregnant wife can stand on the border and, as soon as junior hits the ground he is a US citizen? What if he falls on the Mexican side? I suppose that doesn't matter, because we can just throw him over the fence, like everybody else. This is why I love America.

But I am truly worried that this cannot be the intent of the 14th amendment. I remember reading in my citizenship class that the 14th Amendment was written to guarantee rights for children of the newly freed black slaves, and has been grossly misinterpeted by those who will use any means to "get their foot in the temple" as we say.

[Mercedes]

10:26 PM on 08/03/2010

Harvey:

Anyone BORN in the United States of America or one of its territories IS automatically a US Citizen--no matter where his/her parents came from. Case Closed...

[linaya]

07:20 AM on 08/04/2010

I think you are even a citizen if you are born on a plane flying over the U.S.

[sjpersonal]

11:58 AM on 08/05/2010

I personally believe this to be the case. I agree with you 100%. #2 Fan

[Mercedes]

08:33 PM on 08/03/2010

Come on, McConnell, don't go down this road. You have been in Congress for so many years that you know this is not going to succeed. I know you GOP are desperate to get back in power, but, seriously, how cr@zy are you going to get?

I guess you, the GOP and the Tea Party will have to learn the hard way, when you DO NOT gain the Majority in Congress this November. You do know that most intelligent, sensible adults are NOT falling for your party's LIES and h8te, don't you?

You really should start to RECONCILE the thought that your party will not be back in power until you drop that 8% fantasy--you know, where 8% of the US population, the 'haves and have mores' own and get everything, while the rest of us have to pay all the bills, pay all the taxes, fight and DIE in all the wars and forget about asking our Federal Government for ANY kind of help.

Best start working WITH the Democrats in Congress and create new US jobs, make tax paying FAIR again and work WITH the American people, not just with Big Business and Corporations...

[keramos]

10:08 AM on 08/05/2010

It's another GOBP diversion. The trick here is to keep yelling at them to produce their plan. Don't let them do the "here doggy, go chase the new toy" trick. Call them on it and push their noses into the mess they've made.

Hold them accountable

[ennis438]

04:24 PM on 08/03/2010

The GOP's racist undertone becomes more and more clear the more their leadership opens their mouth.

[Sea Bear]

05:37 PM on 08/03/2010

Amazing, I point out how the KKK has been democrat since the civil war, and that get's dumped...

Sounds like someone doesn't want history in their blather.

[keramos]

10:13 AM on 08/05/2010

The KKK was associated with the democratic party up until the signing of the Civil Rights Act. At that point, all the Dixiecrats became mostly replutocrats. Legend holds that Lyndon Johnson said "We have lost the South for a generation." If he said it, he was right.

Anyone familiar with what has happened since the signing of the act in 1964 would know that there has been a near complete 180 degree shift in both the R's and the D's philosophies. In other words, it's highly unlikely that the KKK has any representation from the D's any longer.

[Sea Bear]

05:39 PM on 08/03/2010

OOPs...

All the blather is blending together...

A moderator had the same lack of education.

[RockyMissouri]

07:11 PM on 08/03/2010

The parties have morphed over the years, the republicans of today are nothing like they were during the time of Lincoln....the democrats of the 50's and 60's in the southern states were more like the republican/ teabagger types.....it's all there in the history books.

[JLeeGeorge]

03:12 PM on 08/03/2010

The 14th amenment has guarantees that go beyond the right to citizenship to those born here. One might wonder after hearing the actual desires of the modern right they would enjoy not haveing to deal with a great number of us...like that protection from the infringement of the state on the rights of any citizen. Overturning the 14th amendment would bring us one step closer to the totalitarian style government they seem to actually desire. Citizenship is not the only issue in the 14th amendment...read it.

[Steve Magruder]

03:05 PM on 08/03/2010

Sen. McConnell -- The U.S. Constitution is not ala carte!

[sjpersonal]

01:15 PM on 08/03/2010

Has anyone had the opportunity to read the following HP articles regarding China's and Isreal's illegal Immigration problems and their solutions? If not they make very interesting reading, below are the links.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/julian-baird-gewirtz/chinas-migrant-workers-an_b_666283.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/02/israel-to-expel-children-_n_666995.html

This issue seems to have become a global problem.

[Caleb Owens]

02:06 PM on 08/05/2010

I'd prefer the U.S. not go down many of the roads that Israel has chosen to go. We've had our period of segregation, let's leave it behind.

[Noland]

12:51 PM on 08/03/2010

Mitch, find your tortoise shell, crawl back into it, and scamper away. Please.

[gorideabike]

11:53 AM on 08/03/2010

America used to be called a "Melting Pot" back when they taught history and civics in school. America is a multicultural, multiracial society. Get used to it.

[bdaved]

06:55 PM on 08/04/2010

Did you ever hear of the "Melting Pot" graduation ceremonies at the Henry Ford's Ford English School? About the Melting Pot:
an article with photo, http://www.autolife.umd.umich.edu/Labor/L_Overview/FordEnglishSchool.htm
and here, more about that photo, http://books.google.com/books?id=U6wgt0Beb-AC&pg=PA65&lpg=PA65&dq=ford+english+school&source=bl&ots=NKHSNghSQc&sig=e9NQ78XXZOJKTlpStTr23dIAPlE&hl=en&ei=Y3w-S8qdK8TBnge67o3zCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&ved=0CCQQ6AEwBTgK#v=onepage&q=ford%20english%20school&f=false
another photo, on page 7, http://books.google.com/books?id=YlmtnbRVz6oC&pg=PA7&lpg=PA7&dq=ford+english+school&source=bl&ots=6Fuiq5Vyi0&sig=TLVQUWi5xZaLtRgSEs1tncS9wiA&hl=en&ei=Gno-S7nPApDinAeevIz8CA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=10&ved=0CCYQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=ford%20english%20school&f=false
and here, on page 89, a fantastic description of the graduation ceremony with a photo, http://books.google.com/books?id=4Xa9oM2CBAQC&pg=PA89&lpg=PA89&dq=ford+english+school&source=bl&ots=h3waZCrRim&sig=B7yxXZXFDd9_lyEUWMtIIl_uCks&hl=en&ei=Y3w-S8qdK8TBnge67o3zCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&ved=0CC0Q6AEwCDgK#v=onepage&q=ford%20english%20school&f=false

[Caleb Owens]

02:08 PM on 08/05/2010

Now it's referred to as the Salad Bowl. The melting pot implied that everyone must become the same thing over time, melting together, while the salad bowl implies that each culture can keep its roots, or flavor, but by mixing them they all influence each other to create a wonderful salad of many different flavors.

[gorideabike]

11:48 AM on 08/03/2010

Contitutuional ammendements, a long road to nowhere. Lots of activity to satiate the NeoConned and no results to account for. Yup. Another ruse to perpetrate votes from dummies.

[eztempo]

11:48 AM on 08/03/2010

McConnell, Kyl and the other jingoistic demagogues should take Josh Marshall's warning over at TPM to heart:

"But apart from the Constitution and beyond all the ethical and prudential reasons why birthright citizenship is simply the right policy for the country to follow, consider what it protects against. In many European countries -- Germany being perhaps the best example -- you have substantial populations of stateless people. In Germany it's the Turks who came legally or illegally as guest workers, then had children. And these children were born and raised in Germany, speak German, but aren't German citizens. They aren't Turkish citizens either. And culturally they're no more Turks than Hispanic kids born in Los Angeles whose parents happened to have been born in Mexico."