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Originally published in the May 15, 2005 issue of the Alamance Independent
Cedillo Proves Children of Illegal Aliens Are Not U.S. Citizens
By Mark Andrew Dwyer - May 18, 2005
In his latest attempt to protect his fellow Mexicans who illegally jumped the American border from being punished for driving without a driver's license in California, Sen. Gil Cedillo inadvertently provided a convincing argument that American-born children of illegal aliens do not qualify for "automatic" U.S. citizenship. Although I and a vast majority of citizens in California strongly disapprove of Cedillo's deceitful manipulations that attempt to grant illegal Mexican "migrants" impunity for their violations of the America's border and her immigration laws, ostensibly, in order to make us all "safer", I concur with Cedillo's apparent presumption that illegal aliens are not subject to the jurisdiction of the U.S., not withstanding the undisputable fact that prosecution of the criminal acts they commit on American soil does fall under the jurisdiction of American courts.
That's right. Aliens in the U.S. are not subject to the jurisdiction thereof, and so aren't their American-born children. They are subject to the jurisdictions of their countries of origin to which they owe their allegiances. Mexican President Vicente Fox made it perfectly clear many times that Mexican "migrants", on behalf of whom he filed a number of ridiculous claims with the U.S. government and the U.N., are subject to the jurisdiction of the Mexican government (for otherwise, he would not have acted on their behalf). The fact that the aliens are not subject to the jurisdiction of the U.S. has been stated specifically, and at several occasions since 14th Amendment was proposed on June 13, 1866, in reference to persons temporarily visiting the U.S. on diplomatic or tourist visas, as well as their American-born children. Quite obviously, illegal aliens and their children, as being no more entitled to anything than the holders of valid U.S. visas, belong to the same category of persons excluded from the jurisdiction of the U.S.
The above fact seems to be a source of certain ambiguity among law enforcement agencies when it comes to arresting and charging illegal aliens for minor violations, for which the citizens and legal residents would be held accountable but the illegal aliens often are not. In some cities, like Los Angeles, New York, or Denver, just to name a few, de facto "sanctuary" policies prevent police from even asking the violators if they are in this country legally. There is enough anecdotic evidence that the illegal aliens themselves, when stopped for driving without a license or violating other local rules and ordnances, use their immigration status as an excuse by saying "Let me go, I am just an illegal". Sadly enough, a police officer will often let the perpetrator go (in some documented cases giving him a ride to a closest bus station), assuming that if the ICE (formerly known as INS) is not interested in taking the illegal alien in the custody then he should not be, either. Although a misconception without a legal basis, it proves that, in perception of law enforcement agencies, illegal aliens are not subject to the jurisdiction of the U.S., and justly so.
Sen. Gil Cedillo recently introduced a bill SB 591 in California Senate that would exempt illegal aliens who got caught while driving without a license from mandatory impounding of the vehicle they drove (see [1, 2] for the posted text of the bill). Not that he would ever admit it, after all, all the excuses for his earlier and failed attempts to force the illegal aliens driver's license bill on our heads he used so far proved phony, the fact that illegal aliens, particularly those with strong legal (and emotional) ties to Mexico, are not subject to the jurisdiction of the U.S. must have been his main leitmotif while drafting the bill. I mean, a lawmaker with integrity would not try to extrapolate the concept of the "jurisdiction of the U.S." to cover a very different issue of "court jurisdiction", but Cedillo's all legislative history while in California Senate was a series of misconception, deceit, and hypocrisy (see my earlier column [3]). So, it must surprise no one that he tries to confuse his opponents with implying that these two different notions have the same meaning.
What Cedillo's latest attempt really demonstrates, particularly if SB 591 passes the California Senate, is a wide-spread perception among the lawmakers that American-born children of illegal aliens are not the subject to the jurisdiction of the U.S., similarly as their parents are not (for otherwise he would not have introduced his bill). And this fact, although predictably questioned by the open-border lobby, has profound legal consequences. Section 1 of 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the U.S., states: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. [...]" Because no other part of the Constitution, including its all Amendments, regulates the issue of citizenship by birth, it's clear that American-born children of illegal aliens do not become "automatically" U.S. citizens. And since the burden of proof is on party that wants to establish that party's legal rights to whatever they claim is theirs, under the circumstances of a lack of presumption of citizenship (otherwise, the U.S. government would have to grant the U.S. citizenship to every person on Earth unless it can be proved that that person is not eligible), if someone claims the U.S. citizenship by birth then it must be clear beyond any reasonable doubt that he/she was subject to the jurisdiction of the U.S. at the moment of his/her birth. And no deceitful rhetoric or twisting the meaning of the text of 14th Amendment will do in lieu of a proof.
One can be sure that the open-border lobby will viciously disagree with the above, logically sound, argument. And understandably so. They need a steady supply of "anchor babies" in order to maintain their political strength. To make things worse, the courts, particularly those dominated by Liberal judges, have been notorious for misrepresentation of 14th Amendment in their blatantly ignoring of the "and subject to the jurisdiction thereof" clause as if it were a meaningless ornament or a figure of speech. But this unfortunate fact should not be construed as a deciding factor of the citizenship by birth issue. One has to remember that the very same courts that misinterpret 14th Amendment have also been known for the so-called "legislating from the bench" - an unconstitutional judiciary activity that results in making up the laws rather than strictly interpreting them. So, there is no good reason to let them ultimately settle the issue on which they are obviously wrong.
One needs to remember that the purpose of all these semi-legal maneuvers by the open-border lobby and activist judges is to help millions of Mexican "migrants," notorious for their contempt of our border and our laws, settle America's shores at the expense of citizens and legal residents. Cedillo, as he had done so many times before, wants again to give "migrating" Mexican hordes keys to the American-dream kingdom against the will of a vast majority of American citizens, but it appears that he shoot himself in foot this time. American-born children of illegal aliens are not subject to the jurisdiction of the U.S. and, therefore, are ineligible for "automatic" citizenship based on 14th Amendment. And this, contrary to what Cedillo calls for, does not exclude the crimes they committed while in the U.S. from the jurisdiction of American courts.
[3] It's All About Safety, Stupid
http://americanpatrol.com/GUESTCOLUMNS/DWYER/CedilloDLs4IAs030213.html
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