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The Complexity of Our Immigration Law

Supreme Court weighs fairness of citizenship law differences for mothers and fathers

Usually when we debate immigration law in the U.S. we debate on illegal versus legal. Along the border states of California, Texas, and Arizona, the debate usually always goes to Mexico. None of us really ever think about the sex of a parent of an illegal child, but maybe we should.

This article discusses another issue of reform needed. Did you know that if you are an illegal immigrant trying to get citizenship in America that it makes a difference whether it is your mother or our father who may be the illegal in the country? Last November, "The Supreme Court heard a case" about "A Mexican-born man who grew up with an American-citizen father in the United States is asking the court to protect him from deportation, claiming the law would have granted him citizenship if his mother had been an American instead of his father" (Foley, 2010).

The law permits non-citizen child to become a citizen if one of the parents had lived in the U.S. for a certain amount of time before he or she was born. The issue at hand is the amount of time for the mother versus the father. “Before 1986, American fathers needed to have spent at least 10 years in the country — five of them after the age of 14 — to pass on citizenship to their children. American mothers needed only a year living in the United States before the child’s birth to pass on citizenship” (Foley, 2011).

Ruben Flores-Villa’s father did not meet the citizenship requirement for Ruben to be granted citizenship status, but if it were his mother who was passing the citizenship, he would have qualified and be a U.S. citizen. I had no idea that sex mattered, did you? This case currently sits in the hands of the Supreme Court and a decision is expected this summer. I guess it brings to question, is it fair to have different requirements for men and women to pass citizenship to their children?  

http://washingtonindependent.com/103262/supreme-court-weighs-fairness-of-citizenship-law-differences-for-mothers-and-fathers