Americans for Constitutional Citizenship Coalition Now More than 80 Groups and Individuals
Americans for Constitutional Citizenship (ACC), a coalition dedicated to preserving the integrity of our nation’s Constitution and its guarantee of citizenship to all persons born in the United States, is now more than 80 civil and human rights organizations strong.
The coalition also includes a bipartisan group of thought leaders and constitutional scholars, including Linda Chavez, chairman of One Nation Divisible; James Ho, former solicitor general of Texas; and Walter Dellinger, former Clinton assistant attorney general.
In a letter sent today to governors, state legislative leaders, and members of Congress, ACC urged them to reject any effort to rewrite the Constitution’s Citizenship Clause. The letter states:
“Efforts to rewrite the Citizenship Clause, if pursued, would have far-reaching negative consequences. Instead of reducing unauthorized immigration, they would simply increase the number of people who live outside of the law. Rather than strengthening our families and society, they would feed into slanderous and dehumanizing myths about immigrant mothers and their children. They would also create countless practical questions, to be addressed in the midst of the momentous occasion of childbirth. Finally, to the extent that these efforts might be undertaken through ordinary state or federal legislative processes, they are patently unconstitutional.”
The American Citizenship clause of the 14th Amendmentstates explicitly that “all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” Constitutional citizenship stipulated in the 14th Amendment was intended to put citizenship above the preferences and prejudices of any politician or era, and to ensure that all those born on U.S. soil are treated equally with rights of citizenship that no government may restrict.