The GOP war on 'anchor babies'

Rep. Steve King is leading the campaign to deny &quot;birthright citizenship.&quot;

(Image credit: Getty)

last updated 8 January 2015

The incoming Republican chairman of the House subcommittee on immigration, Rep. Steve King (R-IA), has set his top priority: Repeal the U.S. "birthright citizenship" granted to all U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants under the 14th Amendment. King argues that these so-called anchor babies are an unfair drain on taxpayer dollars, and offer their undocumented parents a stealth path to citizenship. While some GOP leaders support King's drive, is it good policy... or bad politics?

What happened to Constitutional conservatism? The newly elected class of Republicans campaigned on "defending" the Constitution, says Cynthia Tucker in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. But if their first goal is gutting the 14th Amendment — rather than, say, creating jobs — it's not the Democrats who "don't care so much about fealty to the Constitution," it's the "radical" GOP.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

This is political suicide: King's bill would never pass the Senate, let alone the courts, says the Los Angeles Times in an editorial. The only thing it would do is alienate Latino voters. And that's just bad politics. Latinos are a rapidly growing electoral force, and they "are not, by any means, monolithic Democratic voters" — yet. If GOP leaders don't "quash" anti-immigrant talk, they risk losing Latino support.

Subscribe to The Week

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox