Four million children of illegal immigrants possess U.S. citizenship. That number might not appear significant, but it is growing rapidly according to the LA Times article “The Birthright Citizenship Debate” by Teresa Watanabe and Patrick McDonnell. There is now a question of whether or not to abolish the 14th Amendment, which states, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” This is a problem because in this day and age, illegal immigrants are not going through the proper process of obtaining a green card or visa, which leads to debt. As a model country, the U.S. should set the standard by abolishing the 14th Amendment and instituting an easier plan for immigrants to migrate into the U.S.

Abolishing the 14th Amendment would be instrumental in improving the U.S. economy and adapting to modern times, according to an Oct. 2015 NPR broadcast. The U.S. economy would benefit if illegal immigrants were to leave because U.S. employers would be forced to raise wages to attract American workers. If people were to be paid higher wages, they would spend more money, thus putting more currency into the economy, which repeats the cycle. The 14th Amendment is the incentive to migrate illegally into the U.S. Abolishing the 14th Amendment would help the U.S. adapt to the 21st century. The modern era is very different from the 18th century, which was when the 14th Amendment was created. Due to different immigration procedures in modern-day America and various other immigration laws, it would make sense to abolish the no-longer-relevant 14th Amendment. Other modern countries like Sweden, Russia, and even Israel have all abolished their versions of the 14th Amendment from their law system. According to a recent study done by the Center for Immigration Studies, overall, the 14th Amendment is outdated and leads to economic problems. Another reason why the 14th Amendment should be abolished is that the process of immigrating to the U.S. should be easier.

Some might argue that the people who are crossing the border illegally are just trying to find a better livelihood and improve their living and financial situation. Now this is true, but regardless of the reason, it would be beneficial towards the American economy if this process was done legally and truthfully. As the land of the free and home of the brave, America needs to live up to its expectations and accept more migrants. If the U.S. provided more visas and green cards, then many of the U.S.’ economic and social problems would be solved because people would be registered and would be paying taxes according to the LA Times article “The Birthright Citizenship Debate.” According to the U.S. Immigration Department, the U.S. spends $90 billion dollars annually securing the Mexican-American border. As a country, spending $90 billion dollars
securing one border is unacceptable. The cost of maintaining the Mexican-American border coupled with the cost of harboring illegal immigrants who are collecting welfare per year is a staggering $201 billion dollars. Based on the numbers, it is obvious that the system that the U.S. is implementing is broken and not working. If the U.S. made it easier to get citizenship, then the incentive for crossing the border illegally would decrease, thus decreasing the cost of the border patrol and the drag on the U.S. economy.

All in all, the current state of U.S. immigration laws is terrible. The social and economic implications of the birthright dilemma undeniably cause a huge drag on the U.S. The 14th Amendment is out-dated and frequently goes hand in hand with illegal immigration. Birthright laws encourage illegal immigrants to give birth on American soil to become citizens more easily. In addition to getting rid of the 14th Amendment, America must create better systems to admit illegal immigrants in a more efficent legal process. As a country, the U.S. needs to abolish the 14th Amendment and get rid of birthright.