The United States is among the 32 countries, mostly in the Americas, that have birthright citizenship. If you are born here, you get a US passport. Conservatives have long complained that the 14th Amendment provides a loophole for so-called “anchor babies,” of whom there are at least 4 million born to illegal immigrants. But those numbers are dropping annually. Jus soli, or the right of the soil, is in the crosshairs of the incoming second Trump Administration, with the president-elect threatening to eliminate it by executive order. Without it, however, hundreds of thousands if not millions of people could be forced back into the shadows, refusing to call the police or the fire department for fear of deportation, and become stateless. In France, there are second and even third-generation stateless people who couldn’t go back “home” even if they wanted to.
The TMI Show’s Ted Rall debates the issue with guest co-host Robby West, filling in for Manila Chan.
