Writer dead wrong on 14th Amendment

Thomas Tawney is dead wrong when he says in his Feb. 25 letter the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the 14th Amendment guarantees citizenship to children born to illegal aliens.

The Supreme Court has never decided the issue. The 1982 court decision Pyler vs. Doe was not about automatic citizenship for children born to illegals; it was about children of illegals brought here and whether they are entitled to a public school education.

Further, this decision was not made on constitutional grounds but as a matter of good public policy, the thought being that as long as they are here, they should be educated.

(By the way, the ruling never barred the government from deporting these children along with their families.)

The U.S. is one of only a few countries left still foolish enough to grant automatic citizenship to children of illegals, and it is high time we joined the rest of those countries who finally got their heads screwed on straight.

Tawney shows just how little he knows about this issue when he suggests that Jim Oberweis is aligned with white supremacists because he favors removing a major incentive for people to enter the country illegally.

The race card always is played by those who refuse to address the facts in an intelligent manner.

Dave Gorak

Executive Director

Midwest Coalition to Reduce Immigration