Does Birthright Citizenship Need an Overhaul?

Jeb Bush, who is married to a Latino woman, is fluent in Spanish, and who advertises himself as open, aware, and sympathetic to the Hispanic community, has jumped on Donald Trump's "anchor baby" bandwagon along with Bobby Jindal, Ted Cruz, Scott Walker, and Ben Carson.  Other GOP candidates agree on the issue without the vilifying slang term.

On Wednesday's Morning in America radio show, Mr. Bush addressed birthright citizenship this way, "If there's abuse, if people are bringing--pregnant women are coming in to have babies simply because they can do it, then there ought to be a greater enforcement... So you don't have these, you know, 'anchor babies,' as they're described, coming into the country."

Later, when asked about his use of the offensive term at a New Hampshire town hall meeting, he snapped, "Do you have a better term?  Give me a better term, and I'll use it."

John Paul Brammer of Blue Nation Review put the Hispanic minority issue in the perspective of what is ahead for the Republican Party and candidates like Jeb Bush if they persist in duplicating Mr. Trump's every politically incorrect utterance:

 "As a Latino myself, let me be clear.  this isn't so much about Jeb Bush using an offensive term so much as it's representative of his weakness in the face of Donald Trump.  It's time for Republican presidential candidates to confront the uncomfortable truth that the base they've helped create is eating up Trump's xenophobia and racist rhetoric.  Even Jeb Bush...is willing to throw Latinos under the bus in exchange for support.  This is something Latinos should keep in mind the next time he tries to tell us he has our best interests at heart."

what eye thynk:  I expect to be pilloried for this, but I do agree with Trump on this issue TO A POINT.  

I believe birthright citizenship, as it exists in our Constitution today, needs to be changed.  I would like to see a minimum period of residency requirement amended to the right of U.S. citizenship at birth.  If either parent has lived in this country, say for a minimum of two years, and can prove that they have been a working, productive part of our society (no matter their own legal status), then certainly their baby should be considered a citizen at birth.  I would add that both mother and father should also be awarded Dreamer status at the same time.

But, and here's where I expect those to the left of me on this issue to start throwing things, if you cross the border at Noon and are the proud mother of a U.S. citizen by dinner time, that is something that needs to change.  I expect, though I have no proof, that the number of pregnant women crossing our border simply in order to give birth is statistically small.  I don't see this as an issue that would have any earth-shattering effect on illegal immigration; I see it as a matter of fairness.

Incidentally, under my criteria, we would be safe from the possibility of Bobby Jindal ever living in the White House.  He was born just six months after his parents arrived in this country from India.  And, yes, that would be the same Bobby Jindal who defended the Confederate flag by calling it "a symbol of my heritage."  

Just something to think about.