A Witness against Citizenship

Although the legislative proposal to restrict birthright citizenship was recently rejected in the Senate, the House of Representatives deemed this idea important enough to hold a hearing. The panel included a witness known for his odious comments against black and Latinos in the panel and who is in favor of leaving the children of undocumented people without citizenship. This is proof of who the supporters of such a proposal are and how they think.

University of Texas professor Lino Graglia was the protagonist of the Judiciary Committee hearing, which featured three witnesses who spoke against granting citizenship to a U.S.-born baby if at least one of its parents is not a citizen or legal resident. One other witness argued in favor of the current interpretation of the Constitution.

Graglia rose to fame for his controversial opinions. In 1986, he was considered by the Reagan Administration to become judge in the U.S. Court of Appeals, but he was later discarded because of the commotion caused by his potential nomination. What is ultimately unacceptable is that he is now being received with open arms. It does not seem to matter that he has said in several occasions that the cause of academic problems among African-Americans and Hispanics is their “culture.” Or that he also said: “I don’t know that it’s good for whites to be with the lower classes. I’m afraid it may actually have deleterious effects on their views, because they will see [that] people from situations of economic deprivation usually behave less attractively.”

Senator David Vitter’s proposal to limit citizenship was rejected by the Senate, who saw its divisive nature as an obstruction for more important bills such as the law to combat human trafficking. Still, the House thinks that the idea of leaving children born in the U.S. without citizenship is worth a look.

Some say that this is only politics directed at appeasing the more conservative factions, as if the debate didn’t reflect the values of Republicans and their opinion on the children of immigrants.

This type of action only makes it harder to accept the argument made by people like Jeb Bush, for instance, who say that President Obama is responsible for the division generated by the immigration debate. The real culprits are among the organizers and witnesses of the legislative hearing.