asu in the news 02-06-08 to - ASU News - Arizona State University

ASU in the News
ruling came decades before there was a modern-day concept of illegal immigration and a century
before the latest surge of illegal immigrants crossed America’s borders. Illegal immigrant parents are
the subjects of a foreign nation, Schuck said. Unless they are in the United States legally, they are
under the ’jurisdiction’ of their native countries, he said. That means their children are exempt from
automatic citizenship, just as the American-born children of foreign diplomats are not considered
Americans, Schuck said. But Evelyn Haydee Cruz, an associate law professor at Arizona State
University and director of the school’s immigration clinic, said illegal immigrants are subject to the
jurisdiction of the United States because they can be prosecuted for breaking the law. Diplomats
cannot be prosecuted, and their American-born children are not citizens, she said. Schuck
acknowledges the Supreme Court would probably rule children of illegal immigrants born in the
United States are entitled to birthright citizenship because it has been the accepted practice for so
long. That means it would take an amendment to the U.S . Constitution to change the law. That’s
unlikely, said Rep. John Shadegg, R-Ariz., who has co-sponsored bills challenging the notion of
birthright citizenship for illegal immigrants since his first term in Congress in 1995. Shadegg said
federal legislation on the issue ’is not going anywhere soon,’ despite pressure on Congress to clamp
down on illegal immigration. It is tough enough to get a consensus in Congress to deal with adults
who enter the country illegally, Shadegg said. The issue of what to do with their children, particularly
those born in the United States, is even more volatile, he said. If the legislation ever does pass, it
would at least get the issue to the Supreme Court so the question of who is an American citizen could
be resolved, Shadegg said. ’To leave this big of an ambiguity in such a fundamental provision of a
nation’s law is inappropriate,’ Shadegg said. ’This is a huge issue that ought to be resolved. Right
now, it’s a muddle.’ At the Legislature, Rep. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, is pushing a proposal that
would ask Arizona voters to weigh in on the issue. The measure, co-sponsored with Sen. Karen
Johnson, R-Mesa, is similar to the initiative being circulated by Montgomery. If it clears the
Legislature, the issue would be put directly to voters in November. Pearce said he is confident the
referendum would be approved. But he acknowledged the issue of birthright citizenship is tougher
than other recent measures that targeted illegal immigrant adults. ’It always makes it more difficult
when you involve children,’ Pearce said. ’You have to separate that emotion from it being the right
thing to do. It’s not a matter of not loving these people. It’s a matter of what’s right.’ WITHOUT A
COUNTRY Though the prospects are dim that the current interpretation of birthright citizenship will be
overturned anytime soon, illegal immigrants fear the efforts to challenge the status of their
American-born children. Rosa, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, worries about what would happen to
her three children - all American born - if their U.S . citizenship is called into question. The children, all
boys, range in age from eight to 13. They have lived in the Mesa area all their lives and consider
themselves Americans. Rosa and her husband, both Mexican nationals, have worked since they
crossed the border illegally in 1993, she said. No one in the family has received any government
welfare or health care benefits, she said. If efforts to change the law are successful, Rosa says her
kids would be left without a country. ’It’s worrisome,’ Rosa said of her sons’ heritage. ’It’s worse
because they don’t have a place in Mexico. Not from here. Not from there. Then from where?’
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