On Sat, 01 Apr 2006 15:22:45 GMT, Jose
wrote in ::

Larry:
These American Citizens did nothing wrong. (You did say that you wanted it to be
retroactive).

Perhaps in the majority of cases that is true. But the law that
grants those born in the US US citizenship fails to address the point,
and its drafters probably overlooked the incentive it would cause if
it included those born to women who have entered the country
illegally. That needs to be fixed.

Fails to address what point?

The point that the law permits the offspring of those who have
_criminally_ entered the US to be considered US citizens. I would
expect that Congress did not consider illegal aliens when that
provision of law was drafted.

As to incentive, our ancestors (of not too
many generations ago) entered this Indian nation illegally too.

Please cite the law which you assert was broken.

My ancestors entered this country legally through Ellis Island.

We just
about wiped the natives out in our self-rightousness, and now we want to
prevent others from doing the same to us? On what moral grounds?

Your attempt to drag the immoral slaughter of native Americans by
European immigrants into this discussion is a reach too far for me.

Also Larry:
What is
special about =children= of legitimate citizens that they should be
citizens too, while children (born here) of foreigners (including
travellers or illegal immigrants) should not?
The family who nurtures and educates these children is ostensibly law
abiding and will instill that character trait in their offspring;
those who commit a crime to enter the US have patently indicated their
willingness to flout US law, and do not deserve the benefit of it.

The assumption that legitimate citizens are law-abiding is laughable.

The assumption that those who cross the US border illegally are
criminals is without question.

Shall we disenfranchise the children of =all= who commit a crime?

No. We must remove the incentive to illegal immigration by rescinding
the law that grants US citizenship to those born in the US as a result
of their mothers _illegal_ immigration into the US.

Especially capital crimes? Certainly this is worse than failure to
submit paperwork for citizenship while working hard at low wages doing
things that Americans wouldn't be caught dead doing.

I'm glad you raised the question of illegal immigrants doing work US
citizens won't do; that argument is a farce.

In the '60s and '70s the construction trades were filled with US
citizens (more than 80% of the work was performed by citizens). They
entered apprentice training, received a decent wage, and paid their
withholding taxes.

Now the building trades are dominated by illegal aliens who have no
training, work for peanuts, and are paid cash without contributing to
Social Security or Workers Compensation. They have taken good jobs
away from Americans, and reduced the quality of workmanship. Today
trained, SS and WC paying, union workers in the building trades
account for about 20% of those on the job.

Farm work is, and always has been, another matter. Those workers are
not needed in the Winter, and should migrate back home then.

The point is, if the illegal alien workers were paying into Social
Security and Workers Comp., they would price themselves out of the
labor market, and permit wages to rise to the point where US citizens
would consider working those jobs.

It is only through (further) flouting of US employment laws that
illegal aliens are able to secure employment in the US. Illegal
aliens are crooks, and should be dealt with as any criminals. If that
isn't true, our entire justice system should be ignored.