Re: No automatic citizenship for kids born in U.S. to illegal immigrants article
well yoiur should have said legal presence versus RESIDENTS.
as far as protection of 14th ammendment, the ammendment was written for slaves, and did not actually even cover native americans at that time. if you go by the text of the 14th ammenment it would almost make it seem that by that token someone who gets citizenship by birth in US can not be citizen of another place.
Later statements from the author of the 14th ammendment were that the ammendment was written specifically for slaves, and the fact that it did not even cover native americans further proves that point. Then native americans were added, and at the time that children of other ppl present in US were included, it did not address the issue of legal or illegal people, let alone resident or non resident, so it is a grey area.
14th ammenment does not apply to diplomats either, although they are in the country legally. To be frank, this is a topic that has not been discussed much. even the issue of illegal immigrants have not really been ratified by the supreme court. I guess they have bigger issues to deal with for now.
words from the author fo 14th ammendment...Senator Howard
"This amendment which I have clarified is simply declaratory of what I regard as the law of the land already..[It] does not, of course, include persons born in the United States who are foreigners, aliens, who belong to the families of ambassadors, or foreign ministers accredited to the Government of the United States, but will include every other class of person. It settles the great question of citizenship and removes all doubt as to what persons are or are not citizens of the United States"
that should be enough enlightenment for now.