“We teed this up for the court because we thought the court would agree with us,” Secretary of State-elect Kris Kobach said about ugly plans by some states to try to prevent the 14th Amendment, which grants citizenship to all children born in the United States, from applying to children of illegal immigrants. But as with other Kobach anti-immigration measures, this one likely will be tossed out by the courts. The U.S. Supreme Court has a long history of supporting the 14th Amendment, including against past challenges aimed at African-American, Chinese-American and Japanese-American citizens.
Lamenting that the nation has just seen a “lost decade” on immigration reform, writer Roberto Suro predicted disappointment for the Republicans planning to pass tough new laws aimed at forcing an exodus of the 11 million undocumented residents. “The number of illegal arrivals dropped sharply during the recession, but the people already here did not leave, though they faced massive unemployment and ramped-up deportations,” he wrote. “If they could ride out those twin storms, how much enforcement over how many years would it take to seriously reduce their numbers?” Even so, the new GOP chairmen of related House committees have big plans to step up border security, workplace enforcement and arrests of illegal immigrants.
“The trouble with this city, which sits smack dab in the center of the United States, is all in the reputationæ.æ.æ. But if you miss Wichita, you’re missing something,” Geoff Edgers wrote in a Boston Globe article praising Wichita as a travel destination. The only criticismEdgers had was that there weren’t enough Wichitans out enjoying the city’s many attractions when his family visited. “Our company for much of the morning was stationary and bronze,” he wrote, referring to the sculptures downtown (which he also praised).
“We teed this up for the court because we thought the court would agree with us,” Secretary of State-elect Kris Kobach said about ugly plans by some states to try to prevent the 14th Amendment, which grants citizenship to all children born in the United States, from applying to children of illegal immigrants. But as with other Kobach anti-immigration measures, this one likely will be tossed out by the courts. The U.S. Supreme Court has a long history of supporting the 14th Amendment, including against past challenges aimed at African-American, Chinese-American and Japanese-American citizens.
