Congressman Steve King Offers Unconstitutional Birthright Legislation

Congressman Steve King, R-Kiron, who now represents Ames in Iowa's new 4th District, wants to change what being born in the USA can mean.

King, also vice-chairman of the house subcommittee on immigration, introduced legislation Friday, that would only allow children born in the United States to be born Americans if one or both of the parents was a citizen, legal resident or foreigner performing active service in the armed forces.

"We need a common sense solution to fix the flawed interpretation of the Constitution's citizenship clause, and 'The Birthright Citizenship Act of 2013' does just that," King said after the introduction of that legislation. "The current practice of extending U.S. citizenship to hundreds of thousands of 'anchor babies' must end because it creates a magnet for illegal immigration into our country. Now is the time to ensure that the laws in this country do not encourage law breaking."

This would be unconstitutional and is a subject that King also planned to bring up in the previous session according to a report on CBS News.

At the time he said that the 14th amendment to the Constitution guaranteeing citizenship to people born in the United States was meant for the children of slaves.

"The 14th Amendment and that specific clause was put in place immediately post-Civil War for the purpose of ensuring that babies born to newly freed slaves would be American citizens," he said as reported on CBS News, adding that it had nothing to do with citizenship for the children of illegal immigrants.

King's comments have riled Progress Iowa members.

Matt Sinovic, Progress Iowa executive director, said in a statement that King's legislation shows that he's only interested in dividing people and his "anchor babies" comment is dehumanizing.

"At a time when many Iowans are struggling to make ends meet and want their leaders to come together and find solutions to real issues, like creating jobs and avoiding massive cuts to programs like Social Security and Medicare, King is focused on the politics of division. To do so using dehumanizing rhetoric, such as calling immigrant children ‘anchor babies,’ shows King to be completely out-of-touch with Iowa values," Sinovic said.

"Congressman King, no baby born in this country is an 'anchor,' and shouldn’t be penalized or deprived of human rights simply because of the choices of their parents," he said.

What do you think? Should everyone born in America be considered American?