HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.C.R. NO.

156

TWENTY-SIXTH LEGISLATURE, 2011

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 

 

 

 

 

HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

 

Urging the United states congress to uphold the citizenship clause of the fourteenth amendment of the United States constitution.

 

 

 

     WHEREAS, section 1, clause 1, of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution, commonly referred to as the citizenship clause, provides that "[a]ll persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the States and of the State wherein they reside"; and

 

     WHEREAS, the citizenship clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, which was ratified in 1868, was in response to the United States Supreme Court's infamous Dred Scott decision (Dred Scott v. Sandord 60 U.S. 393 (1857)) that denied citizenship to people of African American descent who were born in the United States; however, because the amendment was drafted broadly, it guarantees citizenship to virtually everyone born in the United States; and

 

     WHEREAS, we are a nation of immigrants, and generations of Americans have understood that children born in the United States are entitled to United States citizenship, regardless of the nationality of their parents; and

 

     WHEREAS, the idea of eliminating automatic citizenship for the children of unlawful immigrants is gaining traction as a method of curbing illegal immigration, despite several United States Supreme Court decisions affirming the fundamental right of citizenship for all people born within the United States; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-sixth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2011, the Senate concurring, that the United States Congress is urged to uphold the longstanding right of citizenship, provided for in the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution, to all persons born in the United States; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Majority Leader of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, and to members of Hawaii's congressional delegation.

 

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

_____________________________

 

 

Report Title: 

Birthright Citizenship; United States Congress