Today, I finally took the plunge and responded to the Birthright issue being discussed with some of my Facebook friends. I did this reluctantly because so many of the comments agreed with Trump and all the hatred towards illegals. But what the heck I couldn't resist.
So I offered up a legal perspective and then a personal observation. For the legal perspective I related the story of Julia Lynch, the Irish girl, whose court case in 1844 settled the birthright issue in her favor. Those of you who don't know this case it goes like this as related by Lawrence O'Donnell on MSNBC:
"A 14-year-old Irish girl named Julia Lynch.
Julia was the niece of Thomas Lynch, co-owner of the Congress Spring mineral water company in Saratoga Springs, New York. Thomas died in 1833, without a will or any offspring, but a left behind sizeable fortune and valuable property.
His niece, Julia, his closest living heir, immigrated to the US with her other uncle, Bernard, in 1834, having lost both of her parents a few years prior. Julia had been born in New York to Irish parents in 1819. They remained in the US for a few months following her birth and then returned to Ireland.
Julia’s inheritance hinged entirely upon whether she could be considered a citizen of the United States of America. She was born in the US, but she had never been officially naturalized.
Judge Lewis Sandford, who presided over the case, determined that Julia was indeed eligible to receive her inheritance, because she was and always had been a US citizen.
“The Constitution of the United States, as well as those of all the thirteen old states, pre-supposed the existence of the common law and was founded upon its principles,” Sandford explained in his opinion."
And then I offered up my personal observation:
"Do we really want to change this practice and custom? That would probably mean that 300 million birth certificates are now invalid because they do not indicate citizenship on them. Oh yes, you and I, and your parents and grandparents, children, nieces, and nephews and everyone else cannot prove they are citizens. Take my own situation. My father was born at home in 1906 in New Jersey and he never possessed a birth certificate. My grandfather was born in Northern Ireland and my Grandmother in one of the Baltic States. They came through Ellis Island at different times in the late 19th century or early 20th century.
So everyone will have to prove their citizenship status. The birth certificate is the basic document we use for getting a driver's license, voter ID, social security card, passport, etc. All 300 million of us. Cause whose to say you are legal. Prove it.
Oh what about mother. She was born to two immigrant parents too. My maternal grandmother was born in Ireland and my maternal Grandfather was born aboard ship on the Atlantic. To make this interesting my great grandfather who was the captain of that ship was a citizen of Nova Scotia. There is a lineage of these sea captains. We kind of think they might have been in the slave trade but that is another topic. But if we go back far enough they were living here in the colonies (Marblehead, Massachusetts) originally and emigrated to Nova Scotia around the time of the Revolutionary War. So I guess I have Tory blood in me so I'm definitely on an NSA watch list..."
But then to my surprise the person who started the Facebook discussion related to me his real world experience. My Facebook friend is a Vietnam Veteran I served with and who was seriously wounded and now retired. His real name is not used below.
This is his story:
"WIDEM, here is one for the books. In 2010, the government of Puerto Rico declared all birth certificates null and void. Forcing all those born in the island to obtain a new birth certificate. Their rationale was that too many birth certificates were ending in the hands of illegals. Now, living in South Carolina. I went to the DMV to transfer my Connecticut license. They would not make the transfer because I needed a certified copy of my birth certificate. None of the things in my possession were accepted as valid, including my DD214. It takes a few months to receive the new certificate from Puerto Rico. With it in hand, I returned to the DMV, to learn that I could no longer use the name of "Jose Citizen"on the license. Due to the addition of my maternal name, I was now known as "Jose C. Veteran. I don't have a middle name nor had I ever been identified by my maternal last name. Again, it didn't make a difference that all my records listed my last name as "Citizen." Nor, did anyone want to accept that I was born an American citizen, served in the Military, had been a Federal employee and had a legitimate Social Security. I was forced to hire an Attorney to petition the court, to once again use the name by which I had always been known. The petition was granted, then, I had to request for a new Social Security and drivers license. All this because I had a Latin name in an area with a high illegal population. I remember questioning, how much more do I have to give this country, in order to be accepted?"
So the next time some far right GOP candidate wants to change the law on birthrights ask him if he wants everyone in the country to have to obtain a new birth certificate.