Creating a new class of illegal immigrants.

• Position: YOUR LIFE

A plan to challenge the constitutional definition of citizenship has been revealed by State Legislators for Legal Immigration, Cranberry Township, Pa. Insisting that they need to correct a "monumental misapplication of the 14th Amendment" and protect their states from the 'Illegal alien invasion,' the legislators have proposed model legislation intended to spark a Supreme Court ruling to reinterpret the 14th Amendment.

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This legislation will attempt to create a new definition of "state citizenship" and narrow the categories of people who would be citizens at birth--those born to at least one parent who is a U.S. citizen or national, or legal permanent resident. It also would create a "state compact" requiring slates to issue two different types of birth certificates: one for those considered "natural-born U.S. citizens" and another singling out those whom the state does not consider a citizen.

"The proposal is clearly unconstitutional and an embarrassing distraction from the need to reform our nation's immigration laws," responds Benjamin Johnson, executive director of the American Immigration Council, Washington, D.C. "It constitutes a vicious assault on the U.S. Constitution and flies in the face of generations of efforts to expand civil rights. Moreover, it is an attack on innocent children born in the U.S. who would be confined to a new second-class citizenship and vulnerable to abuse and discrimination.

"While claiming to uphold the Constitution...