The Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution makes interesting reading. Its primary purpose was to clean up a number of issues related to the Civil War, but the most significant part of it, which is almost lost in the noise, is the very beginning:

Section 1. 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 intent of this was to insure that former slaves could not have their citizenship questioned. The modern results were not what they had in mind. In an era when travel was not what it is now, no one could have predicted that tens of thousands of foreign nationals would enter the country each year solely to have a child born here that automatically becomes a citizen.

Is it time to fix this? While automatic citizenship may be appropriate for the children of those who are already citizens, the idea that anyone can come across the border and uncork a citizen is getting a bit ridiculous under our current conditions. According to some sources, this may require only legislation and not a change in the Constitution.

Comments?