Kavanagh: Citizenship is not a Door Prize

When John Kavanagh introduced his bill attacking birthright citizenship, he had some choice words:

Julianne Hing writes for Colorlines:

True to its word, Arizona dropped its long-promised anti-immigration bills attacking birthright citizenship. Arizona State Rep. John Kavanagh filed two bills [yesterday] in the Arizona House, and State Sen. Ron Gould was also expected to file his own.

“Those two companion bills have one purpose,” Kavanagh told Colorlines. “We want to trigger a Supreme Court review of the phrase ‘subject to jurisdiction thereof’ which is contained in the 14th Amendment.”

Kavanagh said he believed that statements from the 14th Amendment’s authors and initial Supreme Court decisions reveal that the amendment was never intended to grant citizenship to the children of undocumented immigrants.

“We believe the current interpretation is wrong,” he said. . . .

“If we get the correct court decision…we will not be dispensing citizenship like a door prize,” Kavanagh said. “Especially not for those whose parents snuck into this country illegally through the back door.” Read more...

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