PHOENIX — The Arizona state lawmaker who proposed a challenge to automatic U.S. citizenship for children of illegal immigrants called off a scheduled vote on his measure Monday because he didn’t have enough votes to get it out of committee.
But Republican Sen. Ron Gould of Lake Havasu City said he doesn’t think his bill is dead. Calling off a vote in committee doesn’t prevent lawmakers from bringing up their proposals for a vote again.
Gould hopes the measure would prompt a court interpretation on an element of the 14th Amendment, which guarantees citizenship to people born in the U.S. who are “subject to the jurisdiction” of this country. Supporters of the bill say the amendment doesn’t apply to the children of illegal immigrants because such families don’t owe sole allegiance to the U.S.
The bill’s sponsors say the goal is to force a court to rule that a child born in the U.S. is a citizen only if either parent is a U.S. citizen or a legal immigrant. Similar proposals have been introduced by lawmakers in Indiana, Mississippi, Texas, Oklahoma and South Dakota. The South Dakota measure was rejected by a committee Monday.
An accompanying proposal is an interstate compact that defines who is a U.S. citizen and asks states to issue separate birth certificates for those who are U.S. citizens and those who are not.
Opponents of the bill, and constitutional scholars, predict such state efforts will be declared unconstitutional.
