An earlier post cited Linda Chavez's support for birthright citizenship and John Eastman's critique of her position. She has responded:
The 14th Amendment says in plain English: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and the State wherein they reside.” But Eastman and a handful of immigration restrictionists argue that that Amendment excludes children born to illegal immigrants because they are not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States.
On its face, that position is absurd and would mean that illegal immigrants—like diplomats—could not be prosecuted for crimes they commit, since they have not subjected themselves to the jurisdiction of the United States. In trying to square this circle, Eastman suggests that the framers of the 14th Amendment had in mind a different interpretation of what it meant to be “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States than common sense dictates. But his interpretation has been thoroughly refuted by one of the nation’s leading authorities on the history of the 14th Amendment, Professor Garrett Epps. As Epps demonstrates, Eastman misrepresents the Congressional debate on the 14th Amendment and misconstrues the groups excluded from birthright citizenship.
The phrase “and subject to the jurisdiction thereof” was added to the 14thAmendment to exclude two categories of persons: diplomats and Indians.. Since diplomats and Indians were not subject to the laws of the United States, they could not be sued or prosecuted. Diplomats have always enjoyed such immunity, but Indians were a special case because they were members of tribes that enjoyed sovereign status within the United States.
