Harry Reid and the 14th Amendment Flip-Flop

[Pooky 3,825]

1993 flip-flop: Sen. Reid introduced bill 'clarifying' birthright citizenship

Kerry Picket

Published on August 12, 2010

For all the brouhaha over Republicans wanting to review the interpretation of the 14th Amendment, the citizenship/birthright Clause, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, once supported revising the current interpretation of the birthright citizenship clause in 1993.

Mr. Reid introduced a bill to the Senate Judiciary Committee as the Immigration Stabilization Act of 1993. The bill, which died in committee after it was referred to the Subcommittee on Immigration and Refugee Affairs, includes tough immigration provisions that would make many wonder where Mr. Reid truly stands on the immigration and border debate.

Title X of the Reid introduced bill shows the Nevada Democrat took Mr. Graham’s idea on the interpretation of the 14th Amendment and documented it into legislation:

"TITLE X—CITIZENSHIP 4 SEC. 1001. BASIS OF CITIZENSHIP CLARIFIED. In the exercise of its powers under section of the Fourteenth Article of Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, the Congress has determined and hereby declares that any person born after the date of enactment of this title to a mother who is neither a citizen of the United States nor admitted to the United States as a lawful permanent resident, and which person is a national or citizen of another country of which either of his or her natural parents is a national or citizen, or is entitled upon application to become a national or citizen of such country, shall be considered as born subject to the jurisdiction of that foreign country and not subject to the jurisdiction of the United States within the meaning of section 1 of such Article and shall therefore not be a citizen of the United States or of any State solely by reason of physical presence within the United States at the moment of birth."

Even the summary of the bill contains language that would offend many of Mr. Reid's supporters who are pushing amnesty for illegal immigrants in the United States:

"A bill to curb criminal activity by aliens, to defend against acts of international terrorism, to protect American workers from unfair labor competition, and to relieve pressure on public services by strengthening border security and stabilizing immigration into the United States."

Mr. Reid has taken quite the 180 since he introduced his immigration bill in 1993. “They've either taken leave of their senses or their principles,” said Senator Reid of Republicans recently when asked about what he thought about the GOP push to clarify the 14th Amendment of the Constitution. Mr. Reid tried to endear himself recently to Hispanic voters in Nevada when discussing border issues and told them, "I don't know how anyone of Hispanic heritage could be a Republican." Causing an uproar among Hispanics who are conservatives and Republicans, Mr. Reid's past dabbling with the 14th Amendment cannot possibly make his liberal supporters happy.

Senator Lindsey Graham, of South Carolina Republican, wants the 14th Amendment clarified, while House Minority Leader, John Boehner, Ohio Republican, said looking at the Amendment was “worth considering,” according to reports.

The 14th Amendment grants citizenship to any individual born in the United States. Legally, it also grants citizenship to in babies born on American soil to illegal immigrants. The babies are commonly known as “anchor babies,” because their citizenship status makes it easier for their undocumented relatives to achieve legal immigration status by family reunification measures found in the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act. A new study published by the Pew Hispanic Center reports that 1 in 13 babies are born to illegal immigrants (h/t Fox 13 Now-Utah).

Washington Times link

Obviously, his convictions are based not on principles, but on which way the political winds are blowing. Right now, Dingy Harry needs to do a lot of pandering to try and cling on to his Senate seat, even running against a halfwitted Republican opponent this time around. What a weasel.

[peejay 327]

Obviously, his convictions are based not on principles, but on which way the political winds are blowing. Right now, Dingy Harry needs to do a lot of pandering to try and cling on to his Senate seat, even running against a halfwitted Republican opponent this time around. What a weasel.

Used to be that illegal foreign labor was the bane of unions and their Democratic cronies. Now unions have embraced union dues and union cards rather than Green Cards. Unions such as Obama's SEIU have large numbers of illegal aliens as members and are now illegal alien cheerleading organizations fueled by illegal alien dues paying members.

My how times have changed. My union grandfathers and uncles are spinning in their graves.

I find it hilarious that the unions are embracing the very people that broke the unions in the first place.

Harry Reid is a weasel. And the worst kind...a hypocrite to boot along with his union cronies.

[Pooky 3,825]

Used to be that illegal foreign labor was the bane of unions and their Democratic cronies. Now unions have embraced union dues and union cards rather than Green Cards. Unions such as Obama's SEIU have large numbers of illegal aliens as members and are now illegal alien cheerleading organizations fueled by illegal alien dues paying members.

My how times have changed. My union grandfathers and uncles are spinning in their graves.

I find it hilarious that the unions are embracing the very people that broke the unions in the first place.

Harry Reid is a weasel. And the worst kind...a hypocrite to boot along with his union cronies.

Maybe Dingy Harry thinks a Union Card makes an illegal immigrant legal? I mean, there's no illegal aliens working in construction in his State, are there?

But his original stance just goes to show that those bleating on about doing away with "Birthright Citizenship" being the exclusive province of the GOP are giving people like this POS a free pass on their beliefs, when such beliefs are hidden by political expediency.

[peejay 327]

Maybe Dingy Harry thinks a Union Card makes an illegal immigrant legal? I mean, there's no illegal aliens working in construction in his State, are there?

But his original stance just goes to show that those bleating on about doing away with "Birthright Citizenship" being the exclusive province of the GOP are giving people like this POS a free pass on their beliefs, when such beliefs are hidden by political expediency.

Here is an article about flip-flop Harry I posted back in July that shows how times have changed with the new Democrat agenda of pandering to the illegal alien cheerleading lobby for cheap votes:

Posted 20 July 2010 - 11:29 AM

Bring Back the Old Harry Reid

by Rep. Tom Tancredo

Posted 07/20/2010 ET

When asked about figures released by the Pew Hispanic Center that found that 14% of the nation’s construction workers are illegal aliens, Harry Reid responded, “That may be some place, but it’s not here in Nevada.”

Reid is right. The number is much higher in Nevada. According to the same report, Nevada has the highest level of illegal aliens in the workforce at 12.2%—2.3% higher than the next highest state.

When asked to justify why he blocked the amendment proposed by Senator Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) to require government-contracted construction workers use E-verify to prevent them from hiring illegal aliens with the taxpayer’s money, he replied: “That’s the reason we need to do comprehensive immigration reform. We cannot do it piecemeal.”

In other words: he refuses to enforce our immigration laws unless we pass amnesty.

Earlier in the year, Reid wrote a detailed outline with Senators Chuck Schumer (D.-N.Y.) and Robert Menendez (D.-N.J.) of what they wanted “comprehensive immigration reform” to look like.

It isn’t pretty. The bill will gut enforcement, voiding all state and local laws such as the one just passed in Arizona. It will also greatly increase legal immigration levels—adding at least 550,000 permanent work visas and 3.4 million permanent family visas.

It will grant amnesty to every single illegal alien present in this country the day it is passed. Besides rewarding the lawbreakers who are already here, this will encourage additional illegal immigration as the bill is debated. The bill even allows illegal aliens with multiple criminal convictions to receive amnesty.

Needless to say, this is not the type of immigration reform that Americans want.

Harry Reid did not always support amnesty. In 1993 he introduced the Immigration Stabilization Act, and he reintroduced it the following year.

Upon introducing the bill, Reid said, “Our borders have overflowed with illegal immigrants placing tremendous burdens on our criminal justice system, schools and social programs… Our federal wallet is stretched to the limit by illegal aliens getting welfare, food stamps, medical care and other benefits often without paying any taxes.”

While “comprehensive immigration reform” is now used as a euphemism for amnesty, Reid’s office called the bill “the first and only comprehensive immigration reform bill in Congress.”

And comprehensive it was.

Reid’s bill would have ended giving birthright citizenship to the children of illegal aliens, increased border security, created new sanctions against illegal aliens and their employers, and barred illegal aliens from receiving government benefits.

Additionally, the bill reduced legal immigrant admissions by 500,000 people a year. It achieved this by eliminating the visa lottery, limiting work visas to truly skilled immigrants with advanced degrees and extraordinary abilities, and limiting family reunification to children and spouses.

What has changed since Reid introduced the bill? In 1994, there were approximately 3 million illegal aliens living in the United States. Today there are 11 million. In 1994, we accepted 800,000 legal immigrants each year. Today, we accept 1.1 million. In 1994, unemployment was at 6.6%. Today it is officially at 9.5%, and these numbers do not include the temporary census workers who will soon be out of a job. The Census Bureau reports that one out of every six workers in America is foreign born, with eight million illegal immigrants in the workforce.

Things are even worse in Nevada. In addition to having the highest number of illegal aliens in the workforce, it also has the highest unemployment rate in the country at 14%.

One thing that has certainly changed since 1994 is Harry Reid. As Senate Democratic Leader, he now sees illegal aliens and foreign workers as future Democratic voters and believes that pandering to Hispanics will help him win votes. The Arizona Republic recently ran a piece entitled “Harry Reid's dislike of Arizona law may aid re-election.”

Fortunately for Nevadans and Americans, Reid’s repositioning on immigration will most likely backfire. Hispanics only make up 12% of the electorate, and many are patriotic citizens who support Arizona’s law. As a whole, 57% of Nevada voters support Arizona’s law and 63% oppose the Obama Administration’s lawsuit to prevent it.

While illegal immigration has become a hot-button political issue, no politician of either party has introduced legislation for across-the-board cuts on legal immigration since I introduced the Mass Immigration Reduction Act of 2004.

The fact that this is not getting any attention is outrageous. Despite skyrocketing unemployment, we actually increased the number of foreign workers we accepted into the country in 2009, with over 1.1 million permanent green cards issued in addition to over 880,000 visas to temporary foreign workers.

With our immigration and economic problems out of control and politicians refusal to fully address the issue, we need the Harry Reid of 1993 and 1994 more than ever.

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