Sauce For The Goose; Good For A Gander

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) suggested that Hispanics have no reason to join the GOP in part because of their stance on birthright immigration - the GOP wants to eliminate it.



Well, not so fast Senator Reid. It looks like you were sponsoring legislation (S.1351
Title: Immigration Stabilization Act of 1993) that would have done just that (although it is unconstitutional since legislation can't trump the Constitution). That bill was cosponsored by James Exon (Democrat from Nebraska and former NE Governor), Lauch Faircloth (Republican from North Carolina), and Richard Shelby (originally an Alabama Democrat who switched to the GOP in 1994). The key language is here:

SEC. 1001. BASIS OF CITIZENSHIP CLARIFIED.

In the exercise of its powers under section 5 of the Fourteenth Article of Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, the Congress has determined and hereby declares that any person born after the date of enactment of this title to a mother who is neither a citizen of the United States nor admitted to the United States as a lawful permanent resident, and which person is a national or citizen of another country of which either of his or her natural parents is a national or citizen, or is entitled upon application to become a national or citizen of such country, shall be considered as born subject to the jurisdiction of that foreign country and not subject to the jurisdiction of the United States within the meaning of section 1 of such Article and shall therefore not be a citizen of the United States or of any State solely by reason of physical presence within the United States at the moment of birth.

The legislation went nowhere in 1993, but Reid is making hay over the fact that the GOP wants to do substantially the same thing in 2010.

To Reid, this is politics as usual. All the while, existing immigration laws are not enforced and businesses are not penalized for hiring illegal aliens. That too is business as usual.