Stephen Colbert helps make it clear why repealing 14th amendment has become the latest anti-immigrant pet project. Because, clearly, changing the constitution – the foundational document of our freedoms and rights, considered sacred to our country – makes much more sense than reforming our currently broken immigration system. Right?

For more on this, be sure to check out the latest from the Center for American Progress as they separate fact from fiction about the 14th amendment. Colbert himself mentions one of these:

Myth: Undocumented immigrants get immigration status and other benefits from their “anchor babies.”
Fact: If takes a minimum of 21 years for a citizen child to sponsor an undocumented parent.
The ugly term “anchor baby” derives from a fundamental fiction. There is no immigration-based self-interested incentive for immigrants to have babies in the United States. No immigration benefit can accrue to the parent of a child born on U.S. soil for at least 21 years, and more typically 31 years. A child has to turn 21 before he or she can sponsor anyone for permanent residence. But the parent will, in most cases, have to live outside the country for a 10-year period before becoming a permanent resident because of their unlawful status.

The draw of the United States is what it has been for every generation—the opportunity to improve one’s life and the life of one’s family. No one comes to the United States to have a child because they want to bootstrap the child’s citizenship to their own.

Categories: Fighting Hate, comprehensive immigration reform

Tags: 14th Amendment, constitution, immigration, stephen colbert