Dear Future President,

My name is Ashli Harris, I am a Junior at CASH High School in Boston MA and I am 16. I want to bring to you the concerns of immigration in our society. Our immigration system has been overrun by undocumented immigrants by the pull factor of birthright citizenship. Birthright Citizenship is a right granted of citizenship at birth. It consists of two laws: the Law of Blood - any person born to American parents is automatically is an American citizen, and the Law of Soil - any person born in the US or on US soil is a citizen. This law passed in 1898 and was added to the 14th Amendment, passed in 1868. 

Our immigration system has been traveling up and down the scale over the past years. Most people would say, "Anchor Babies" are to blame. In many ways they are correct. But what is an "Anchor Baby?" An anchor baby is a child that is born into the US by undocumented immigrants and allow their parent to stay due to birthright citizenship and the law of soil. I personally feel bad for most immigrants because it isn't always their intention to interfere with the system, but to have an opportunity at a better life. So they move here pregnant to take advantage of that life style for them and their kid. Their only mistake however, is not knowing that they are still at risk of deportation. There is a 50/50% chance that the parent could be deported back to their home country and/or separated from their child. There is no absolute guarantee of permanent stay; the child on the other hand, can.  Therefore, I believe that there should be a modification to birthright citizenship allowing undocumented immigrants to use their "anchor baby" to their best use in getting them citizenship within a certain time frame. 

First and foremost, birthright citizenship should be modified because immigrants will continue to manipulate immigration system. Cited from a documented paper, "Lets Get Real and End Birthright Citizenship for Illegal Immigrants," published September 3rd of 2015 gives evidence supporting our concern. "Then there's the growing birth tourism industry. Many foreign women, notably from China pay huge amounts of money in order to travel to the United States and be housed, often in a child during their stay. Earlier this year, federal agents were able to put a stop to a specific so-called birth tourism 'ring' in southern California, and found several pregnant women with fraudulent visas. Some of them had paid up to $80,000 to have their babies on U.S. soil." This evidence is relevant because as a general rule, anyone who pays a huge amount of money to move to another country and pay for housing, with a child, they don't plan on going back. This manipulates the immigration system because they still aren't "legally" residents of the US because they aren't citizens. Therefore, birthright citizenship should be modified to allow immigrants to gain citizenship. If they can pay to get in, they should be able to pay for permanent stay as well. 

In addition, birthright citizenship should be modified because people intentionally come for a better life; for them and their child. Cited from a document, "Repealing Birthright Citizenship: The Unintended Consequences," by Michael Fix, published August 2015. "Birthright Citizenship is not what drives illegal immigration. Surveys have found that people come for jobs and to better their lives." This evidence is relevant because it isn't always an intention to interfere with the immigration or population system. People come for a better life, for them and their kid(s). Therefore, birthright citizenship should be modified to allow people to become naturalized citizens and to live up to a better life. 

Lastly, birthright citizenship should be modified because although it is apart of the 14th Amendment, it doesn't provide a clear statement that some people would used as evidence to get rid of it completely. Cited from a document of the US Citizenship and Immigration Services, "DBQ: Should Citizenship be Earned?" It states, "...the 14th Amendment was passed in 1868 and its first section declared: 'All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States..." the phrase "and subject to the jurisdiction thereof" obviously means something. Anyone against this law would say that this isn't clearly stated and would mean that there is an additional requirement to becoming a citizen. This evidence is relevant because it gives us a chance to go back and fix our mistakes. 

In conclusion, I believe that birthright citizenship should be modified to allow undocumented immigrants to go through the naturalization process of becoming a legal citizen because, the system will constantly be interfered with, people come to America for a better lifestyle and the 14 Amendment supports it. 

Thanks,

Ashli