Nevada Senators Aim to Make Citizenship a Door Prize

It is a truth universally acknowledged—except, perhaps, in the hallowed halls of the U.S. Senate—that where the parents go, the children go. It has been the practice of civilized nations since time immemorial. Yet Nevada Senators Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen have taken it upon themselves to challenge this natural order with the Born in the USA Act, a bill designed to block President Trump’s attempt to end automatic citizenship for children of illegal immigrants.

Now, sensible folk might reckon that if a person sneaks into a country uninvited, their offspring ought not to be handed the keys to the city. But the honorable senators, bless their hearts, seem to think otherwise.

Their bill, in effect, declares that so long as a mother can waddle across the border before delivering, she has accomplished something more impressive than childbirth—she has produced a brand-new American citizen! And all without so much as a pledge of allegiance or a working knowledge of the Constitution.

“President Trump can’t change the Constitution with a swipe of his pen,” said Cortez Masto, with the confidence of a woman who believes she has cornered the market on legal interpretation.

Never mind the Fourteenth Amendment’s ‘subject to the jurisdiction thereof’ clause has never been definitively ruled upon by the Supreme Court. One might think the senator is unaware of this detail—or worse, simply uninterested.

Senator Rosen, determined not to be outdone, declared, “The U.S. Constitution is abundantly clear.”

If that were true, we wouldn’t be having this conversation, would we? But clarity has never been the strong suit of those in Washington, particularly when it interferes with a preferred narrative.

Both senators have a long history of advocating for policies that smooth the road for illegal immigration, whether it be protecting Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders, pushing for Dreamer citizenship, or even allowing non-citizens to work in Congress. One might suspect their enthusiasm for immigration reform is less about compassion and more about importing a fresh batch of future voters who will keep them in office until the earth stops spinning.

Meanwhile, Trump’s order moves forward, and the people of Nevada—those who, inconveniently for their senators, voted overwhelmingly for the man—are left wondering if their voices carry any weight. But Washington, D.C., has its peculiar laws of physics, and in that upside-down world, it seems the only thing that truly matters is whose hand holds the pen, not whether it has any business writing the rules in the first place.