Arizona Republicans intend to take their tough immigration legislation one step further, and have set their sights on what they call "anchor babies": the US-born children of illegal immigrants, viewed as the legal "anchors" holding their undocumented parents in the US. This fall, the Arizona GOP plans to introduce a bill that would deny US citizenship to children born in Arizona whose parents are not legal US citizens.
The proposal is at odds with the 14th amendment, which has since 1868 guaranteed citizenship to any and everyone born in the United States. But state Sentaor Russell Pearce, the author of the likely new bill, says the 14th amendment has been "hijacked" by illegal immigrants. "They use it as a wedge," Pearce told Time. "This is an orchestrated effort by them to come here and have children to gain access to the great welfare state we've created." Public opinion appears to be on his side: In a recent poll, 58% of Americans and 76% of Republicans said US-born children of illegal immigrants should not receive citizenship.
(More Russell Pearce stories.)
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