Birthright Citizenship Good for Americanization

Alex Nowrasteh writes in the National Journal:

The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, adopted 144 years ago on July 9, provides for the grant of birthright citizenship to the American-born children of unauthorized immigrants and lawful immigrants with various forms of residency. Despite the current controversy around this provision, the 14th Amendment is unintentionally successful as a policy for assimilating the children of immigrants.
Immigrants to the U.S. assimilate very quickly. Speaking of America’s openness to immigrants, former President Ronald Reagan stated, “An immigrant can live in France but not become a Frenchman; he can live in Germany but not become a German; he can live in Japan but not become Japanese, but anyone from any part of the world can come to America and become an American.” Americans, immigrants, and their descendants become Americans. Our system of birthright citizenship makes “Americanization” even easier.
Today, in some respects, they assimilate even more rapidly than previous immigrant waves such as the Irish. What happens to societies that accept large numbers of immigrants but don’t extend birthright citizenship to children is a warning of what could happen here if birthright citizenship is ever discontinued. Read more…

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