The 14th Amendment to our nation's Constitution reads all people born or naturalized in the United states are automatically U.S. citizens.
1.5 Million illegal immigrants are estimated to reside in Texas, and at least 60,000 babies are added to their households each year. An estimated 20 million immigrants will call the U.S. home by 2020.
In response, some Republican lawmakers are intending to stem the tide of illegal immigration by changing the 14th amendment.
Senator Lindsey Graham is at the center of a heated debate in Washington, the South Carolina senator is pushing for a change to the 14th Amendment which currently grants natural born citizenship.
"Congress shall have the authority to regulate birthright citizenship," Graham said. "I think it doesn't make sense, it incentivizes people to break the law."
"If you're here as a student and you have a child, if you're a worker on a work visa, helping our country, if you're a green card holder, I'm okay for your child being an American citizen," Graham said. "What I'm not okay with is someone breaking our law, going to an American hospital, coming here illegally for the express purpose of having a child in America to create citizenship."
Amending the U.S. Constitution requires a two-thirds vote in both the senate and the house, then ratification by three-forths of the state legislatures. It has happened only 27 times in U.S. history.
Congressman Randy Neugebauer said rather than changing a constitutional amendment, Congress should focus on legislation such as H.R. 1868 which aims at securing the border, and reducing incentives to come to America illegally.
"I believe a necessary part of immigration reform is ending birthright citizenship, that's why I'm a cosponsor of H.R. 1868, which would amend our immigration laws to consider a person born in the United States qualified for citizenship only if they meet certain conditions," Neugebauer said.
Under H.R. 1868 a person must be born in the U.S. to parents in which at least one is a U.S. citizen, a lawful resident alien, or an alien performing active service in the armed forces.
Here's what people in Lubbock had to say:
"I think there's a lot of people that come here just to have their babies, where they'd have a way to get into the country by doing that."
"If the parents are citizens then the child should be a citizen, but if their not citizens, they can apply for it but I don't think it should be automatic."
"It's like being born in Mexico or over in Europe, you know you're born over in Germany, you're a German, born over in the U.K., you're a brit. So I don't understand why it can't be the same over here."
"I think the parents should be U.S. citizens for the child to be a U.S. citizen."
Democrat Robert Menendez said the issue is simply an election year tactic, aimed at drawing Republican support.
"I think it's absurd and and alarming, it's pretty outrageous," Menendez said. "It is repulsive to me. This is a horrendous appeal to a core of the republican party to excite their base."
The 14th Amendment was adopted in 1868 as a way to block state laws that prevented former slaves from becoming citizens.
