Texas Legislators seem anxious to pick a fight with the 14th Amendment's citizenship guarantee. HB 28, if passed, will deny services to the children of illegal aliens, even if they were born in the U.S. and are therefore U.S. citizens.
One way to interpret this is that Texas wants to deny services to U.S. citizens.
The intent is to further raise awareness of what some people see as a glitch in the 14th Amendment. The citizenship guarantee was designed to ensure that the recently freed slaves were lawfully recognized as U.S. citizens, a claim rejected by the Dred Scott decision.
The LA Times story above makes an interesting point. Texas at one point was very welcoming, or at least not hostile, to immigrant be they legal or illegal. The Legislature did not pay that much attention to the issue.
Not any more. What gives?
