Automatic citizenship: the 14th Amendment is cited as proof that anyone born in the United States is automatically endowed with citizenship, but that amendment was intended to prohibit such an interpretation and safeguard the value of citizenship.

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Automatic citizenship: the 14th Amendment is cited as proof that anyone born in the United States is automatically endowed with citizenship, but that amendment was intended to prohibit such an interpretation and safeguard the value of citizenship.

"What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its value."

--Thomas Paine in The Crisis.

A recent article published at Politico.com asked, "What makes an American?" That question and the implications arising from the many answers being proffered to it have attracted the attention of pundits and politicians since the passage earlier in the year of S.B. 1070 by the Arizona legislature. This controversial measure mandates the enforcement by local and state police of existing federal immigration statutes within the boundaries of the Grand Canyon State.

In the days since the key provisions of S.B. 1070 were enjoined from enforcement by a federal judge, the halls of Congress have so...

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