Tuesday 24 August 2010
Born in the U.S.A. Is What Makes Someone American ☀
Did Congress intend birthright citizenship to apply to the children of illegal residents? No such group existed in 1866; at the time, just about anyone who wished to enter the U.S. was free to do so. Only later were certain groups singled out for exclusion — prostitutes, polygamists, lunatics, anarchists, and, starting in 1882, the entire population of China.
Not until 1924 was the Border Patrol established, in connection with the law setting nationality quotas for immigration. Initially, its purpose was to keep “undesirable” Europeans — Italians, Greeks, and other southern Europeans — from sneaking across the Mexican border.
