GOP group challenges outright citizenship birthright

A national coalition called State Legislators for Legal Immigration is coordinating the effort.

Arizona state Sen. Russell Pearce said Kansas lawyer Kris Kobach, who helped draft Arizona's tough immigration law now on appeal in the federal courts, is working with him and Republican state Rep. John Kavanagh to draft a bill that all the states could use as a model on the citizenship issue.

Pearce said a bill draft is written and will be ready for consideration when the Arizona legislative session starts in January.

He would not say exactly how they will propose denying citizenship but said the legislation would not be retroactive.

Previous attempts in Arizona have focused on tinkering with state-issued birth certificates.

When asked how the state would prove citizenship in a delivery room, Pearce said delayed birth certificates could be given to allow parents time to gather proof of citizenship.

States issue birth certificates but citizenship is a federal issue.

The 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868, states that "all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside."

The amendment's primary intent was to guarantee citizenship to African Americans, particularly former slaves. But the question of whether the authors also intended to allow the children of illegal immigrants to become citizens has been a matter of debate.

Some advocates have proposed repealing or changing the 14th Amendment, but both Kavanagh and Pearce said they want the Supreme Court to reconsider its interpretation.

To make that happen, Kavanagh said, he and Pearce are focusing on making a change in state law or procedure to spur lawsuits that would end up before the high court.

In 1898, the Supreme Court ruled that the U.S.-born son of an immigrant Chinese couple become a citizen at birth under the 14th Amendment despite the fact that at the time his parents were ineligible for citizenship. That ruling has been interpreted to apply to all children born in the United States.

"We've allowed the hijacking of the 14th Amendment," Pearce said. "We've allowed it to rob the legacy of African Americans, and we've allowed it to be misapplied."

Gov. Jan Brewer declined to say whether she backed the effort: "We'll look forward to listening to it and seeing it vetted in the legislative process and make some determinations at that time."

Several protesters attended the news conference, including one who waved an opposition flier in Pearce's face before being escorted away.

Lydia Guzman, president of the civil rights coalition Somos America, said she was outraged by the new legislative effort.

"What I see here is picking and choosing what part of the Constitution a person likes. That is un-American," she said.