Author of 14th Amendment Explains EXACTLY Who It Was Meant For | The Federalist Papers

Author of 14th Amendment Explains EXACTLY Who It Was Meant For | The Federalist Papers

Author of 14th Amendment Explains EXACTLY Who It Was Meant For

By Brittany Soares 

 

Laura Ingraham and John Kasich got into a debate over the 14th Amendment and birthright citizenship.


Transcript via Real Clear Politics:

LAURA INGRAHAM, HOST: This is Census Bureau numbers, or CIS numbers. There are 300,000 children who are born in the United States each year, neither parent an American citizen. What’s your reaction to that?
GOV. JOHN KASICH: Well, I mean, we have laws here that say that if you’re born here in America you become a citizen.
INGRAHAM: There’s actually no law that says that. There’s no law that says that.
KASICH: Well, I think if you’re born here, my understanding is, I thought it was in the 14th amendment that says equal protection, if you’re born here, you become a citizen. Am I wrong on that? If I’m wrong on it, I’ll be glad to —
INGRAHAM: There’s a Citizenship Clause in the 14th amendment, written by Howard Jacob, who himself said it was never meant to apply to foreigners, neither parent being an American citizen. It was directed towards the slaves of course, who were being continued to be abused in our society, who people wanted to consider less than an American citizen. And, they were subject to the jurisdiction therof, which is the key phrase in that Constitutional provision. I think, we can quibble about the phrasing of the Constitution and what it really means, I think what’s happened and, again I don’t want to make this about Trump, this is about you, but I think the reason people are so frustrated, they’re frustrated, Governor, is things don’t seem fair. For people to come here, and, frankly Bush was right, a lot of folks who come here are Asians, they have birth hotels in Long beach and Arizona, and Texas, a lot of people come here because when they get that American passport for their kid, that’s an anchor. And, people say we’re not going to use anchor baby, that’s rude. Why is it rude? It’s a phrase, because that’s how people use birthright in this country to stay here and to be able to say, look, you’re not going to separate families are you, governor, that would be horrible.
KASICH: Let me just say something, you know, people are frustrated, but you know what, people also have to count their blessings here in the United States of America. My father carried mail on his back, you came from humble beginnings, you’re one of the most popular radio talk show opinion leaders in the country, you’re on Fox News with O’Reilly, you subsitute for him. I’m running for President of the United States. We’ve got problems in this country, but we ought to start counting some of our blessings.


INGRAHAM: So, you’re thinking people are upset for no reason? They haven’t gotten a wage increase in 17 years, governor. KASICH: No, no, no. You know what, no, I don’t like that. And, that’s because we’ve had bad economic policies. But, we have a lot of good in America and we spend an awful lot of time in this country now talking about all the bad. We ought to at least spend 25% of our time talking about some of the great things that happen. Talk about the advances in medical care, the advances in education.