http://thinkprogress.org/2010/06/02/connie-mack-citizenship/GOP Congressman breaks with Rand Paul on birthright citizenship.
Last week, Kentucky GOP Senate candidate Rand Paul proved that he has never actually read the Constitution by endorsing a plan to strip children born in the U.S. to undocumented parents of their citizenship. Today, Rep. Connie Mack (R-FL) hit back at Paul’s “disrespect” for the nation’s founding document:
“Late last week, Dr. Rand Paul, a candidate for the U.S. Senate in Kentucky, said, ‘We’re the only country I know that allows people to come in illegally, have a baby, and then that baby becomes a citizen … And I think that should stop also. . . .’”
“As we all know, the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution explicitly states, ‘All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States …’
“The Constitution was created to limit government, protect liberty and safeguard individual rights. Ignoring the plain meaning and written word of the Fourteenth Amendment – and indeed, the entire Constitution – disrespects the Constitution itself and discredits the candidate.”
For the record, Paul isn’t just wrong about the Constitution, he is also wrong to claim that “we’re the only country” that embraces birthright citizenship. In reality, both of the United States’ neighbors — Canada and Mexico — automatically grant citizenship to children born within their borders, as do many other nations.