Update: At Farmfest 2010, Byberg advocated ending birthright citizenship, thus preventing others from enjoying the pathway to citizenship by which he became an American.
In some ways, the Minnesota Seventh District Republican endorsement of Willmar area agribusiness executive Lee Byberg has the feel of a Robert Erickson prank.
Only four short years ago, Seventh District Republicans endorsed immigration foe and plagiarist Mike Barrett, who promised to "stop the invasion."
Incumbent Blue Dog DFLer Collin Peterson won that one with 69.66 percent of the vote, and Barrett t-shirts have become collectors' items.
This year, the Republican are taking a different path. The Forum newspaper chain reports:
The 35-year-old brings an unusual biography to the campaign trail. He was born a U.S. citizen in Chicago to Norwegian parents who were missionaries in Brazil and Paraguay.
In short, a "birthright citizen," or "anchor baby," as the politically incorrect might say.
The Federation for Immigration Reform (FAIR) defines the term:
An anchor baby is defined as an offspring of an illegal immigrant or other non-citizen, who under current legal interpretation becomes a United States citizen at birth.
And heavens, have they been saying it about those whose circumstances fall under this definition.
Take Michelle Malkin at her word. Wikipedia does:
Conservative commentator Michelle Malkin — herself born in the United States to alien parents who were legally, temporarily in the U.S. at the time[11] — has asserted that "the custom of granting automatic citizenship at birth to children of tourists and temporary workers such as Yaser Esam Hamdi, tourists, and to countless 'anchor babies' delivered by illegal aliens on American soil, undermines the integrity of citizenship—not to mention national security".[12]
First district Republican congressional candidate Jim Hagedorn has called for an end to "birthright citizenship" in a recent statement.
George Will recently addressed the "problem" of birthright citizenship in a column, An argument to be made about immigrant babies and citizenship:
This reasoning -- divided allegiance -- applies equally to exclude the children of resident aliens, legal as well as illegal, from birthright citizenship.
Will suggests that a different reading of the 14th Amendment would allow to greatly restrict birthright citizenship:
all that is required is to correct the misinterpretation of that amendment's first sentence
and some in Congress are working to revise current law.
Most bills seeking to discontinue the custom of "birthright citizenship" allow children of permanent alien residents to claim birthright citizenship. Second District Republican Congressman John Kline, for example, was a sponsor of the Birthright Citizenship Act of 2009, which would make the following changes, according to immigration reduction group Numbers USA:
Under the bill, a person born in the United States gains citizenship if one of the person's parents is:
- a citizen or national of the United States;
- an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence in the United States whose residence is in the United States; or
- an alien performing active service in the armed forces.
Were Lee Byberg's parents ever permanent residents of the United States? If so, he would have been a citizen had the new changes been adopted before his birth.
However, there's nothing in his biography that indicates his parents were here long enough to be permanent non-citizen residents. Their residence? Byberg grew up in South America and Norway, and returned to the United State for college.
It's possible that John Kline supports legislation that would prevent a future Byberg from being a birthright American citizen.
To give the man himself credit (as opposed to those immigration foes who routinely shriek about ending birthright citizenship), Byberg has not beaten the anti-immigration drum. Rather, he's remarkably reasonable in contrast and chooses the less inflammatory term "undocumented worker" to write about immigration policy, however briefly. From his "Where I Stand" page on his campaign web site (emphasis ended):
Peace must be maintained by having a strong national defense that will secure our border and encourage all people to seek freedom, democracy and free enterprise. We must also solve the current situation with undocumented workers by seeking solutions that are humanely just, economically sound, and also place responsibility on new immigrants to fully assimilate into the American life.
I wonder whether those who supported a Michael Barrett would have been so quick to endorse Byberg if his parents had been missionaries from Brazil and Paraguay, rather than Norwegians missionaries to those nations. In some respects, that's one of the prankster "Robert Erickson's" points; no wonder he's just been chosen as Minnesota's second-place Blogger of the Year.
Perhaps a video interview of Byberg by Sue Jeffers, one of the people Erickson punked last November, might help illuminate where Byberg stands on the policy question. Unfortunately, the YouTubes referenced by Eric Austen in an Outstate Politics post have been removed from public viewing online. Pity.
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