Maggie Downing

November 24, 2015

Research Project Catholic Social Teaching
Part One
There are two types of citizenship: citizenship by decent and citizenship by birth. Citizenship
by decent is given to a person based on what citizenship the parents have . On the contrary,
citizenship by birth is given to an individual who is born within the countrys territory, and
the parents citizenship doesnt matter. The United States government determines citizenship
by birth. This means that any person who is born in the United States or in a United States
territory is an American citizen. The Fourteenth Amendments Citizenship Clause assures
birthright citizenship. The controversy over this issue stems simply from the interpretation of
this clause, which was originally intended to reverse the Dred Scott decision . This decision
stated that people of African descent were not citizens . After Congress passed the Fourteenth
Amendment and the Citizenship Clause, the Dred Scott decision was thrown out . The
argument against birthright citizenship is that the Citizenship Clause was not meant to
include unauthorized aliens. However, the Clause covers everyone subject to the
jurisdiction, or those who have to obey United States law . This includes unauthorized
immigrants, so therefore, they are covered by the Clause. United States v. Wong Kim Ark
and Plyer v. Doe both helped to protect lawful and unauthorized immigrants . It was
unanimously decided by INS v. Rios-Pineda that birthright citizenship was due to
unauthorized immigrants children.

Part Two
The Church disagrees with the laws desire to repeal the concept of birthright citizenship .
This would leave many thousands of children without a real home . They would not be able to
flourish in society or reach their full potential . The Catholic Church feels that by repealing
birthright citizenship, it would create a long-lasting underclass society, which goes against
the United States Democracy. This is an undeserved punishment on the children and would
diminish their dignity as a human person. This will eventually lead to broken families.