Month: February 2011
SMITH LETTER HALF TRUE
In his Feb. 19 letter, U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith said the 14th Amendment never intended to grant birthright citizenship to children born in the U.S to foreigners. He cited amendment author Sen. Jacob Howard’s comments during Senate debate on May 30, 1866, but he stopped quoting Howard when he got to the word “foreigners.†Here’s the rest of the story: “This will not, of course, include persons born in the United States who are foreigners, aliens, who belong to the families of ambassadors or foreign ministers …†Howard said. He did not say it would exclude citizenship to children of ... Read more
CORNYN’S NO HELP
Sen. John Cornyn is probably sincere in the compassion he expressed in the Jan. 29 paper (“Texans take note: Obama’s heart isn’t in immigration reformâ€) for the millions here without immigration papers. However, he must have decided that to actually do something for them would be political suicide. The DREAM Act, which would have legalized young people without papers who grew up here, had enough support to pass in the Senate and be signed into law, but Cornyn helped to block it from coming to a vote. So, his heart is with those who want to legalize their status, but ... Read more