Well let’s stop for a second and think about this. There are MANY countries across the world that do NOT offer birthright citizenship, even the most liberal ones. For example, in Norway, (a pretty liberal country on the political scale) a person acquires Norwegian citizenship at birth if: 1) the father is a Norwegian citizen; or 2) the mother is a Norwegian citizen. Beginning September 1, 2006, Norwegian law no longer required the father to be married to the mother.

I’d be somewhat inclined to consider some type of change to this rule – for one reason and one reason only – because of the welfare that undocumented immigrants are able to collect on behalf of their USC children! Like it or not, the fact that this happens is somewhat of a problem for us, especially because we do have some in our midst that like to abuse the system because they can. They make the rest of us look bad and this dirty truth is the first thing that right wingers will point at when they spout opposition towards immigrants!

If there were a rule in this country, where AT LEAST ONE of the parents had to be either a USC or a legal permanent resident, it would help curtail that problem. Lets say both parents are undocumented immigrants. I would say that , instead of automatic citizenship, the child be granted some sort of temporary and limited form of residency that would allow them to live here, but now allow their parents to collect welfare for them (Medical care probably should still be offered, though). Then, when that child turns 18, he/she should be able to adjust their status permanently and then ultimately begin the process of becoming a citizen themselves, granted they’ve stayed out of major trouble and haven’t joined some stupid gang or something like that.

I don’t know . . . maybe. What do you all think?