Change to birthright rule could affect many in Valley - Some seek to alter law allowing automatic citizenship for those born in U.S. (Note: It is interesting that only U.S. Congressman Tom Tancredo is quoted in this article as being for honorable and LEGAL immigration, while one of the Cameron County, Texas, county commissioners, Edna Tamay, employs Language Deception to say, "...that is not what our forefathers wanted this country to be" -- as though her forefathers were Americans and pro-LEGAL immigration -- and two other individuals, also vilify Tancredo and the MANY OTHERS who believe in sovereignty and ONLY in LEGAL immigration, as being "...anti-immigrant, anti-Mexican and very racist." This is totally a LIE. Using Language Deception like this: "...an overwhelming percentage of the population is Hispanic..." to describe the legal status of people living in America -- when one's ancestry and one's country of citizenship are very different -- is seeking to make the general public believe that "immigrants" are "illegal inclusive." Those of Spanish and Mexican descent that have honorably immigrated to American and become American citizens are just as offended as those of any other ancestry, when they see this ILLEGAL INVASION by many with nothing but criminal intent.) November 25, 2005 By Sara Ines Calderon sicalderon@brownsvilleherald.com  The Brownsville Herald Brownsville, Texas http://www.BrownsvilleHerald.com   To submit a Letter to the Editor: dfullerton@brownsvilleherald.com  Ask Edna Tamayo, and she'll tell you that it’s not important how you get into the United States, it’s what you do when you get here that counts. The Cameron County commissioner’s grandfather crossed the U.S.-Mexico border illegally when he was 13 and eventually found employment, started a family and worked “the rest of his life.” Tamayo’s father was born here and received U.S. citizenship upon his birth under the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, but that path to citizenship might not last if Republican lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives are successful in changing it. “My family benefited (from this law), but it wasn't just my family,” Tamayo said. “I think our country, county and our state benefited.” Her grandfather eventually bought land here and left it to his five children. Tamayo became an educator in Cameron County, where she worked for 25 years as an elementary school teacher. “My grandfather may have crossed illegally, but he had all those important values that he passed on through his generations,” she said. “I think they (Republican lawmakers) are wrong. They're bunching everyone into one pot. In my eyes, it is an injustice, and that is not what our forefathers wanted this country to be.” Tamayo described her family as “hard working people that went and protected the country and paid taxes and never asked for anything. They didn't take; they gave.” Some lawmakers in the House of Representatives, however, believe that people born in the United States to undocumented immigrants should not be automatic U.S. citizens. Two bills were proposed in September that would essentially reinterpret hundreds of years of constitutional law and allow citizenship only people born to parents who are in the country legally. “Most people understand that just being born here by the parents of illegal aliens or even legal immigrants is not really something that I think we should establish as the way in which a person obtains citizenship,” said Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colorado, author of a bill that aims to abolish birthright citizenship. “There is absolutely nothing in the Constitution that says if you come into this country illegally and have a baby, that the baby is an American citizen,” Tancredo said. “I really want to see a commitment to America, a commitment to more than just getting a job,” he said. Tancredo introduced a bill called Reducing Immigration to a Genuinely Healthy Total (R.I.G.H.T.) Act of 2005. A second bill called the Immigration and Nationality Act would eliminate birthright citizenship for children of people who are not here legally. Another representative has introduced a constitutional amendment to this same end. Some local officials said such laws could have an impact in the Rio Grande Valley and Brownsville, where an overwhelming percentage of the population is Hispanic, and many people have close familial ties to Mexico. It’s easy to cross from one side of the river to the other in the Valley, said Antonio Zavaleta, an administrator and professor at the University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College. Because of the proximity to Mexico, birthright citizenship is more important in the Valley than in other parts of the country because it affects everyone in the community in some way, he said. “Our nation has always honored birth as a right,” Zavaleta said. “To change it because we live in a time when we have all these wackos, who somehow want to use illegal or questionable immigrants from Mexico as a scapegoat, affects us and our population adversely and negatively.” Tancredo’s bill states that someone may not be a national or citizen at birth “unless at least one of the individual’s parents is, at the time of birth, a citizen or national of the United States or an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence.” Tancredo contends that a change in the 14th Amendment of the Constitution -- which would require an additional amendment or a clarification through a Supreme Court case -- is not necessary to implement his bill. “It is not an obstacle; it is a matter of interpretation as to what the Constitution and what the 14th Amendment says,” Tancredo said. Rogelio Nunez of Proyecto Libertad, a nonprofit immigrants’ rights organization in Harlingen, disagreed with Tancredo and said doing away with birthright citizenship would definitely require a change to the Constitution. “The 14th Amendment says that if you were born in the U.S., then you are a U.S. citizen,” he said. “Legislators, in particular Tancredo, want to change birthright issues which are closely affiliated with the 14th Amendment and are obviously one more perspective of individuals who are anti-immigrant, anti-Mexican and very racist.” The actual text of the 14th Amendment states: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States.” Tancredo maintains that the bill would reduce pressure on the health-care system, encourage cultural assimilation, make sure only people with an “allegiance” to the country enter and help to construct a better immigration policy. “My hope is to make citizenship much more meaningful,” he said. “This proposal is not directed at any particular ethnic group, not directed at anybody from a particular country.” The reason people may perceive the bill as racist is that “When you try to do something about this you are going to impact more Hispanics than the other people because that is the majority of people coming across the border illegally,” he said. Nunez said the immigration system is broken and needs to be fixed, but eliminating birthright citizenship is not the answer. He said people like Tancredo are responding to a moment in history where Mexican immigration is changing the country. “These individuals are really feeling that they don't want the fabric of this country to change, but the reality is that it has been changing. It will change; it is a reality.” Copyright 2005, Brownsville Herald. http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/ts_comments.php?id=P68214_0_10_0