Media Credit: Jarod Opperman Garrett Epps, a resident scholar along with Gordon Lafer at the Wayne Morse Center for Law and Politics, will continue his research into birthright citizenship and the ongoing debate surrounding the 14th Amendment [Click to enlarge]

The 14th Amendment ended the days of the second-class citizen in the United States, at least that was the idea.

With immigration and citizenship at the top of politicians' priorities, how to secure America's borders and deal with illegal immigrants are two issues currently being debated. It makes sense this topic is one of the themes that will be discussed and researched at the Wayne Morse Center for Law and Politics this year.

Garrett Epps, one of two resident scholars at the center, will continue his research into birthright citizenship, and the ongoing debate about the 14th Amendment. In "Democracy Reborn: The Fourteenth Amendment and the Fight for Equal Rights in Post-Civil War America," Epps reconstructed the adoption and framing of the 14th Amendment.

He said he believes it is the most important amendment because it gives citizenship to every person born in the U.S., which means children of illegal immigrants who are born here are also citizens.

"The writers of the 14th Amendment were well aware they would make citizens out of those with odd circumstances," Epps said. "They had seen in a very vivid way how having subordinate populations demeans democracy."

Some reform advocates would do away with this as they look for ways to punish illegal immigrants.

"The result would be those people would have no citizenship at all," Epps said.

Epps said America is not experiencing something new. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that in 2005, 12.4 percent of the population was foreign born, which includes legal and illegal immigrants. Compared to 13.2 percent in 1860, Epps said, "We have had these big spikes in immigration in the past."

Continued...

Page 1 of 2 next >

Article Tools

Be the first to comment on this story

• Name: (required)
• Email: (required)
• NOTE: Email address will not be published
• Website:

Notify me of followup comments via e-mail

Email notify will not work because you are not currently logged in.
Click here to quickly login or create a free account.

Type your comment below (html not allowed)

  I am not posting spam. I understand posting spam or other comments that are unrelated to this article will cause my comment to be flagged for deletion and possibly cause my IP address to be permanently banned from this server.