Dean Johnson Comments on Immigration for Congressional Quarterly, KPCC
Dean Kevin R. Johnson commented for the Congressional Quarterly and for KPCC radio on Republican proposals to revoke birthright citizenship for U.S.-born children of undocumented immigrants.
Dean Johnson said that the debate over immigration reform spurred by the passage of SB 1070, Arizona's controversial immigration law, has produced several "ill-advised" proposals. Commenting on South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham's statements that he may introduce a constitutional amendment that would deny citizenship to children of undocumented parents, Dean Johnson said, "Politicians are politicians. There's a lot of support for the Arizona law. There's a lot of support for changing birthright citizenship, and he may be responding to that."
In an interview broadcast as part of the Patt Morrison program on KPCC radio, Dean Johnson discussed the history of the 14th Amendment, which grants birthright citizenship. Passed as one of the Reconstruction Amendments following the Civil War, the amendment was designed to overrule the Supreme Court decision in Dred Scott v. Stafford, which held that African Americans could not be U.S. citizens, Dean Johnson said, and the Supreme Court upheld the citizenship clause in United States v. Wong Kim Ark in 1898. Dean Johnson suggested that most constitutional law scholars would consider efforts to change the 14th Amendment "inappropriate and misguided" and called for Congress to address comprehensive immigration reform.
Kevin R. Johnson is Dean and Mabie-Apallas Professor of Public Interest Law and Chicana/o studies at UC Davis School of Law. He is an internationally recognized scholar in the fields of immigration law and policy, refugee law, and civil rights.