To Hell With the Huddled Masses

Via The Carpetbagger Report:

"There is a general agreement about the fact that citizenship in this country should not be bestowed on people who are the children of folks who come into this country illegally."

- Rep. Tom Tancredo, Colorado Republican, who is participating in the "unity dinners," the group of Republicans trying to find consensus on immigration.

"General agreement"? Really? There's general agreement that the 14th amendment, Section 1 to the U.S. Constitution needs excising? Here's Section 1 of that amendment:

Section 1. 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. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Seems to me there are better ways to prevent illegal immigration than rolling back the Constitution.

And I say that as a legal immigrant who spent years filling out forms, jumping through bureaucratic hoops and waiting, waiting, waiting in order to get my citizenship.

Maybe Tancredo and co could brainstorm some alterations to that pesky text which appears on the Statue of Liberty, too:

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me:
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.

Or maybe we should just dismantle Liberty and ship her back to France if we're not buying her message anymore.