Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who previously was known as a proponent of comprehensive immigration reform, has announced that he may consider introducing a constitutional amendment to not bestow citizenship for the U.S.-born children of undocumented immigrants.
The 14th amendment of the constitution grants citizenship to any person born on United States soil regardless of the immigration status of their parents.
Graham says that with the 12 million legal immigrants living in the U.S., something must be done to restrict the ability of illegal immigrants to have children who become citizens.
The South Carolina senator told Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren said, “Birthright citizenship I think is a mistake … We should change our Constitution and say if you come here illegally and you have a child, that child’s automatically not a citizen.”
Graham went on to make the claim that “People come here to have babies. They come here to drop a child. It’s called “drop and leave.” To have a child in America, they cross the border, they go to the emergency room, have a child, and that child’s automatically an American citizen.”
The senator was an ally of Senator John McCain (R-AZ) in their efforts to garner Republican support for a bipartisan immigration reform bill. However, just as McCain has backed away from the effort, Graham earlier this year dropped his support for a proposal being championed by Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer.
Some of Graham’s stances have angered the far right members of his party, including those in the Tea Party movement. Most recently, they became upset over his support in committee for Obama Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan. He also supported Sonia Sotomayor during her nomination process.
Graham, who is up for reelection in 2012, insists that he wants to be “fair” and “humane”.
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