SD House Panel Rejects Citizenship Measure

NECN: An attempt to challenge automatic U.S. citizenship for children born in the country of illegal immigrants was rejected Monday by a South Dakota legislative panel. The House Judiciary Committee voted 8-5 to kill the bill after opponents said it attempted to solve the problem the wrong way and would violate rights guaranteed by the South Dakota Constitution. The bill called for South Dakota to join a compact with other states in an attempt to require that a child born in the U.S. qualify as a citizen only if at least one parent is a U.S. citizen or a legal immigrant. States in the compact would issue different birth certificates for those who are citizens and those who are not, but such compacts would have to be approved by Congress. The bill's sponsor, Rep. Manny Steele, R-Sioux Falls, said the bill was intended to prompt Congress to propose a change in the 14th Amendment, which now guarantees citizenship to anyone born in the country. He said Congress could propose a constitutional amendment preventing citizenship for any baby without at least one parent who is a citizen or legal immigrant. Steele said many people enter the U.S. illegally to give birth so their babies will be citizens. "Our system is being abused, and this state compact is a method to correct this abuse," Steele said. However, lawyers said provisions in the state Constitution guarantee equal treatment for citizens and resident aliens and prohibit granting rights only to certain classes of people.