Harry Reid
Nevada Senator Harry Reid, who with other Democrats have been hyper-critical of Republican proposals to end birthright citizenship for illegals, actually introduced legislation back in 1993 to do the very same thing.
The information, published in The Washington Times today, shows Reid introduced S.1351 shortly after Bill Clinton took office in 1993. The legislation reads as follows:
“TITLE X—CITIZENSHIP 4 SEC. 1001. BASIS OF CITIZENSHIP CLARIFIED. In the exercise of its powers under section of the Fourteenth Article of Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, the Congress has determined and hereby declares that any person born after the date of enactment of this title to a mother who is neither a citizen of the United States nor admitted to the United States as a lawful permanent resident, and which person is a national or citizen of another country of which either of his or her natural parents is a national or citizen, or is entitled upon application to become a national or citizen of such country, shall be considered as born subject to the jurisdiction of that foreign country and not subject to the jurisdiction of the United States within the meaning of section 1 of such Article and shall therefore not be a citizen of the United States or of any State solely by reason of physical presence within the United States at the moment of birth.”
Kerry Pickett
Kerry Pickett, who wrote the Washington Times piece, notes Reid wrote an interesting summary of the bill that would be deemed the work or right-wing extremists in today’s political climate:
“A bill to curb criminal activity by aliens, to defend against acts of international terrorism, to protect American workers from unfair labor competition, and to relieve pressure on public services by strengthening border security and stabilizing immigration into the United States.”
Ed Morrisey at Hot Air notes that Reid’s legislation would not have been able to reverse the 14th Amendment, which grants citizenship to those born in the United States. Only a constitutional amendment would be able to do that.
While Republicans have started to use S.1351 to bash Reid has a hypocrite for criticizing Republican Senator Lindsay Graham’s recent suggestion that birthright citizenship should end, Greg Sargent at The Washington Post writes that Reid publicly apologized in 2006 for introducing the legislation, calling it a “low point” in his political career.
Related posts:
Consistently hypocritical.
thats before he went crazy .