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VOA慢速英语2015 美国或取消“出生公民权”

时间:2015-09-22 14:49:35

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Some in US Questioning 'Birthright Citizenship1美国或取消“出生公民权”

Any baby born in the United States automatically becomes a U.S. citizen.  This is called “birthright citizenship.” Republicans running for president are questioning whether it should continue to be the law of the land.

Donald Trump2 is a New York businessman and television reality show host who wants to be president. He is calling for an end to the birthright citizenship policy. He called the policy “dumb” and “stupid.”

Ira Mehlman is media director for FAIR, the Federation3 for Immigration Reform.  His group wants to do away with birthright citizenship.

“In an age when people can be here from any place on the planet in a matter of hours, it simply doesn’t make sense to say if you show up here illegally or you show up here in late stages of pregnancy4 with the intent of giving birth here in the United States, that that child should automatically be considered an American citizen with all the benefits and rights that come along with that.”

Philip Wolgin disagrees. He is the associate director for immigration at the Center for American Progress. He says people who want to do away with birthright citizenship are anti-immigration.

“There are some folks who see immigrants not as they are, as people here who are contributing, who are the very lifeblood of our nation, but unfortunately see them as the opposite. And see them as, you know, coming here for bad reasons, or you know, to take jobs and that sort of thing. That’s obviously not true and that’s not the reality of what the vast majority of immigrants in this country are coming to do, which is help build the nation.”

Countries with birthright citizenship

Of the nearly 200 countries in the world, the U.S. is only one of about 30 that have birthright citizenship. The United States and Canada are the only two “developed” countries that give birthright citizenship to tourists and illegal aliens. That is according to NumbersUSA.com, a group that favors reduced immigration. 

All of Central and South America grant birthright citizenship. Legal experts say the U.S. law is unique because it is part of the 14th Amendment6 to the Constitution.   

No country in Europe has such a policy, says FactCheck.org. Some of the other countries that do not grant birthright are China, Israel, Russia, South Africa, Turkey, Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam.

Britain and Germany offer a type of birthright citizenship. A child may receive birthright citizenship if at least one of its parents is a permanent resident of that county.

Some countries have repealed7 their birthright citizenship policy. Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, France, India, Malta, the United Kingdom and Portugal all have changed their policy about birthright citizenship in their countries since 1981.

Birthright citizenship debate in the U.S.

Ending the policy in the U.S. would not be easy, because it is part of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. It was approved by Congress in 1868, after the end of the Civil War. It was included in the amendment to give citizenship to former slaves who had been freed at the end of the war.

Federal agents enter an apartment complex March 3, 2015, in Irvine, Calif. to investigate a birth tourism business.Federal agents enter an apartment complex March 3, 2015, in Irvine, Calif. to investigate a birth tourism business.

Now the term “anchor babies” has made its way into the political debates in the nation. Donald Trump and Jeb Bush both used the phrase. It is a term that many people consider derogatory. 

Donald Trump pointed8 to babies born to women in the U.S. illegally. While the 14th Amendment grants them automatic U.S. citizenship, they cannot sponsor family members for citizenship until they are 21. However, having a U.S.-born child is often used to argue that the parents should remain in the U.S., according to NumbersUSA.

Jeb Bush said he was talking about Asian women who are so-called “birth tourists.”

U.S. officials said there is a small group of Chinese women who participate in so-called “birth tourism.” They come to the U.S. on a tourist visa at the end of their pregnancy. Then they have their babies on U.S. soil, making the children U.S. citizens. Other countries like Turkey also have birth tourism and send women to the U.S. to have babies.

How many babies are born to mothers illegally living in the U.S.? Almost 300,000 babies in 2013, says the Pew Research Center. That is eight percent of the 3.9 million babies born that year. They say that number is down from 10 years ago.

While their parents may be here illegally, the babies become U.S. citizens.

Republican candidate calls for change in birthright

Donald Trump says if he becomes president, he would work to get a court ruling that the 14th amendment does not apply to babies born here to illegal parents.

Suzanna Sherry is a professor of Law at Vanderbilt Law School in Nashville, Tennessee. She said the Supreme9 Court would have to rule that earlier understandings of the law were incorrect. She said “the Supreme Court has never explicitly10 ruled on whether people who are born here (in the U.S.) of undocumented parents are citizens, but the language of the amendment is pretty clear.”

Youth from United We Dream chant slogans calling for an end to deportations. outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) offices in downtown Phoenix11, Feb. 22, 2014.Youth from United We Dream chant slogans calling for an end to deportations. outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) offices in downtown Phoenix, Feb. 22, 2014.

The language says that all people born or naturalized in the U.S. are citizens of the United States and governed by federal and state law. 

Mr. Mehlman says the intent of the amendment was to give citizenship to African-Americans after the Civil War. He says Congress did not mean to give birthright citizenship to everyone born here.

“The framers when they debated this in Congress were clear that they meant that people who were, who had loyalties12 to foreign governments, are not considered to be under the jurisdiction13 of the United States for the purpose of birthright citizenship.”

If the court does not rule in favor of overturning the policy, then the other option is to amend5 the U.S. Constitution. 

That would be a long and difficult process. It requires two-thirds majority vote in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. Then it would have to win approval of at least three-fourths of the U.S. states.

Mr. Wolgin says birthright citizenship is only a small piece of the much bigger immigration pie.

“But I think the larger issue that needs to be fixed14 is the fact that we have 11.3 million people here without legal status and no way to become legal, and I think the solution is going to be to come together, both Democrats15 and Republicans and pass an immigration reform plan that allows people to get on that pathway to citizenship.”

In fact, many people come here legally every year. The Department of Homeland Security says more than one million people were accepted as legal permanent residents in 2011. Half of those were people already in the U.S. but had their status upgraded to “permanent.”

The presidential candidates say better enforcement would keep illegal immigrants from entering the country. Mr. Trump and others want to build a large wall across the U.S. and Mexican border.

Most likely, the immigration debate will continue throughout the election year. Then it will be up to the next President, and his or her administration, to convince Congress and the country, to make any policy changes.

Words in This Story

automatically –adv; always happening because of a rule, law

intent –n; an aim or purpose

vast –adj; very big in size

illegal alien(s) – n; person in the country illegally

repeal –v; to officially make a law no longer valid

derogatory – adj; disrespectful

tourist visa –n; a visa to go to a country for a pleasure trip

apply –v; to formally ask for something

naturalized  -v; to allow someone who was born in a different country to become a new citizen

convince –v; to cause (someone) to believe that something is true


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1 citizenship AV3yA     
n.市民权,公民权,国民的义务(身份)
参考例句:
  • He was born in Sweden,but he doesn't have Swedish citizenship.他在瑞典出生,但没有瑞典公民身分。
  • Ten years later,she chose to take Australian citizenship.十年后,她选择了澳大利亚国籍。
2 trump LU1zK     
n.王牌,法宝;v.打出王牌,吹喇叭
参考例句:
  • He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
  • The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手,作为他的王牌。
3 federation htCzMS     
n.同盟,联邦,联合,联盟,联合会
参考例句:
  • It is a federation of 10 regional unions.它是由十个地方工会结合成的联合会。
  • Mr.Putin was inaugurated as the President of the Russian Federation.普京正式就任俄罗斯联邦总统。
4 pregnancy lPwxP     
n.怀孕,怀孕期
参考例句:
  • Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕早期常有恶心的现象。
  • Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage.怀孕期吸烟会增加流产的危险。
5 amend exezY     
vt.修改,修订,改进;n.[pl.]赔罪,赔偿
参考例句:
  • The teacher advised him to amend his way of living.老师劝他改变生活方式。
  • You must amend your pronunciation.你必须改正你的发音。
6 amendment Mx8zY     
n.改正,修正,改善,修正案
参考例句:
  • The amendment was rejected by 207 voters to 143.这项修正案以207票对143票被否决。
  • The Opposition has tabled an amendment to the bill.反对党已经就该议案提交了一项修正条款。
7 repealed 3d9f89fff28ae1cbe7bc44768bc7f02d     
撤销,废除( repeal的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • The Labour Party repealed the Act. 工党废除了那项法令。
  • The legislature repealed the unpopular Rent Act. 立法机关废除了不得人心的租借法案。
8 pointed Il8zB4     
adj.尖的,直截了当的
参考例句:
  • He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
  • She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。
9 supreme PHqzc     
adj.极度的,最重要的;至高的,最高的
参考例句:
  • It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
  • He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。
10 explicitly JtZz2H     
ad.明确地,显然地
参考例句:
  • The plan does not explicitly endorse the private ownership of land. 该计划没有明确地支持土地私有制。
  • SARA amended section 113 to provide explicitly for a right to contribution. 《最高基金修正与再授权法案》修正了第123条,清楚地规定了分配权。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
11 phoenix 7Njxf     
n.凤凰,长生(不死)鸟;引申为重生
参考例句:
  • The airline rose like a phoenix from the ashes.这家航空公司又起死回生了。
  • The phoenix worship of China is fetish worship not totem adoration.中国凤崇拜是灵物崇拜而非图腾崇拜。
12 loyalties 2f3b4e6172c75e623efd1abe10d2319d     
n.忠诚( loyalty的名词复数 );忠心;忠于…感情;要忠于…的强烈感情
参考例句:
  • an intricate network of loyalties and relationships 忠诚与义气构成的盘根错节的网络
  • Rows with one's in-laws often create divided loyalties. 与姻亲之间的矛盾常常让人两面为难。 来自《简明英汉词典》
13 jurisdiction La8zP     
n.司法权,审判权,管辖权,控制权
参考例句:
  • It doesn't lie within my jurisdiction to set you free.我无权将你释放。
  • Changzhou is under the jurisdiction of Jiangsu Province.常州隶属江苏省。
14 fixed JsKzzj     
adj.固定的,不变的,准备好的;(计算机)固定的
参考例句:
  • Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗?
  • Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定,我们就不应该随意改变。
15 democrats 655beefefdcaf76097d489a3ff245f76     
n.民主主义者,民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
  • The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

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