WASHINGTON (AP) - Leading Republicans are joining a push to
reconsider the constitutional amendment that grants automatic
citizenship to people born in the United States.
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said
Tuesday he supports holding hearings on the 14th Amendment right,
although he emphasized that Washington's immigration focus should
remain on border security.
His comments came as other Republicans in recent days have
questioned or challenged birthright citizenship, embracing a cause
that had largely been confined to the far right.
The senators include Arizona's John McCain, the party's 2008
presidential nominee; Arizona's Jon Kyl, the GOP whip; Alabama's
Jeff Sessions, the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, and
Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a leading negotiator on
immigration legislation.
"I'm not sure exactly what the drafters of the (14th) amendment
had in mind, but I doubt it was that somebody could fly in from
Brazil and have a child and fly back home with that child, and that
child is forever an American citizen," Sessions said.