Graham favors denying citizenship to children of illegals

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Lindsey Graham said Thursday that he's talked with other senators about crafting a constitutional amendment that would deny American citizenship to illegal immigrants' children born in the United States.

The South Carolina Republican's idea is a stunning reversal for a senator whose advocacy of giving legal status to the country's 12 million undocumented workers is so well- known that conservative radio commentator Rush Limbaugh and many of his listeners call him "Sen. Grahamnesty."

Graham, along with President George W. Bush and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., were GOP leaders of a 2007 failed Senate effort to enact comprehensive immigration reforms including a path to legal residency or citizenship for illegal immigrants.

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Now, Graham is weighing a constitutional amendment in response to a federal judge's ruling Wednesday that he said "gutted" Arizona's controversial law directing police to demand proof of citizenship or legal residency from anyone detained or arrested.

"It makes no sense to the average American in 2010 that if you come across the border illegally and have a child here, that child automatically becomes a citizen," Graham said.

In every session of Congress since 1995, when Republicans gained control of the House for the first time in a half-century, GOP lawmakers have introduced bills removing "birthright citizenship" from the offspring of illegal immigrants.

Such legislation never has advanced far, and Graham said eliminating birthright citizenship for undocumented immigrants' children would require passage of a constitutional amendment.

"I welcome a debate about whether it's good policy to create an inducement to break our laws," he said. "My goal is to create inducements to come here legally."

Graham's notion of a constitutional amendment to end birthright citizenship for the children of illegal immigrants got a mixed reception even from groups that back tougher enforcement of the nation's border restrictions.

Mark Krikorian, an analyst with the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington, said eliminating birthright citizenship actually would increase the number of illegal immigrants.

Children who would have been citizens, Krikorian said, would become illegal aliens.

"I'm exactly against changing this," he said. "I think it's sort of a stupid thing. You would end up with lots of U.S.-born illegal immigrants. There's something like 300,000 kids born here to illegal immigrants every year."

Ira Mehlman, a spokesman for the Washington-based Federation for American Immigration Reform, said Congress has the power to prohibit automatic citizenship for undocumented workers' babies through legislation rather than a constitutional amendment.

Graham said the 14th Amendment of the Constitution would have to be changed in order to end birthright citizenship.

The first sentence of that amendment, passed by Congress in 1866 and ratified by the states in 1868, reads:

"All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside."

The amendment was enacted after the Civil War in order to guarantee citizenship to former slaves.

In order to take effect, a constitutional amendment must be approved by minimum two-thirds votes in both chambers of Congress, then ratified by three-quarters of the states.