text: what do you think of this quote from "yahoo news" today?  i was surprised.? why are children of illegal aliens given citizenship?  that's not how it's done in other countries.  "hispanic mothers here illegally give birth to one-third of babies born to hispanics. half of all babies born to hispanic immigrant mothers are born to those here illegally, he says." the problem is that this (fourteenth amendment)has been misinterpreted in recent years to mean simply that anyone born in the u.s, under any circumstances, is an american citizen. this is neither the original intent of the law nor the way it was interpreted by the courts in subsequent decades. some americans speak of birthright citizenship as if it were an immutable law of nature.  it is not, and most other nations do not, in fact, recognize it. it is only a bad habit that could be broken with a simple executive order.   according to estimates, some 200,000 so-called anchor babies are born in the united states every year.  once a mother has birthed a child on american soil, she can then seek to obtain citizenship for herself on the strength of the family-reunification laws.  even before this happens, she is very hard to deport, as the mother of an american, and the full panoply of welfare benefits is available to her, as is affirmative action if she is a member of a racial minority.  a group of attorneys and immigration experts that is trying to do something about the problem right now.   craig nelsen, director of friends of immigration law enforcement stated : "the situation we have today is absurd,there is a huge and growing industry in asia that arranges tourist visas for pregnant women so they can fly to the united states and give birth to an american. this was not the intent of the fourteenth amendment; it makes a mockery of citizenship." (sound familiar??)  the key to undoing the current misinterpretation of the fourteenth amendment is this odd phrase  "and subject to the jurisdiction thereof."  the whole problem is caused by the fact that the meaning of this phrase, which was clear to anyone versed in legal language in 1868, has slipped with changes in usage. fortunately, there is a large group of court precedents that make clear what the phrase actually means:   the fourteenth amendment excludes the children of aliens. (the slaughterhouse cases (83 u.s. 36 (1873))   the fourteenth amendment draws a distinction between the children of aliens and children of citizens. (minor v. happersett (88 u.s. 162 (1874))  the phrase "subject to the jurisdiction" requires "direct and immediate allegience" to the united states, not just physical presence.  (elk v. wilkins 112 u.s. 94 (1884))   there is no automatic birthright citizenship in a particular case. (wong kim ark case, 169 u.s. 649 (1898))   the supreme court has never confirmed birthright citizenship for the children of illegal aliens, temporary workers, and tourists.  (plyler v. doe, 457 u.s. 202, 211 n.10 (1982))   there are other cases referring to minor details of the question.  the so-called 14th amendment was never properly ratified either.  in the case of dyett v. turner, 439 p.2d 266, 270 (1968), the utah supreme court recited numerous historical facts proving, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that the so-called 14th amendment was likewise a major fraud upon the american people.  those facts, in many cases, were acts of the several state legislatures voting for or against that proposal to amend the u.s. constitution. the supreme law library has a collection of references detailing this major fraud.  the u.s. constitution requires that constitutional amendments be ratified by three-fourths of the several states. as such, their acts are governed by the full faith and credit clause in the u.s. constitution. see article iv, section 1.  judging by the sheer amount of litigation its various sections have generated, particularly section 1, the so-called 14th amendment is one of the worst pieces of legislation ever written in american history.  the phrase “subject to the jurisdiction of the united states” is properly understood to mean “subject to the municipal jurisdiction of congress.”   for this one reason alone, the congressional resolution proposing the so-called 14th amendment is 