Opponents urged state leaders Friday to resist calls to amend the U.S. Constitution to deny citizenship for so-called birthright babies, labeling the growing movement anti-Latino and a hurtful attack on infants.

University of Utah law professor Emily Chiang said the Constitution has been amended only once to take away rights and that to change the citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment would be "taking a step back in time and in history and a step backwards, I think, morally and ethically."

The 14th Amendment grants citizenship to anyone born in the United States. It was ratified in 1868 to grant citizenship to freed slaves.

But some state and federal lawmakers argue it was not meant to grant citizenship to children of undocumented immigrants and now acts as an incentive for such immigrants to cross the U.S. border and have kids.

"It's so sad to think that we now will be creating a second class … of citizen when those children were born here, when they're a contributing part of our society," said Sen. Luz Robles, D-Salt Lake City. She asked her colleagues to ponder "how barbaric and how nasty this fight is and how it affects our children."

The group gathered at This Is The Place Heritage Park, a location that Sen. Ross Romero, D-Salt Lake City, called particularly significant.

"This very spot is a remembrance of the persecution of the LDS community and their final settlement here in this area," he said. "The way some in this community would suggest we need to be repelling some of Utah's children from this community because of intolerance is really unfortunate and misplaced."

Sen. Orrin Hatch said this week he does not support amending the Constitution to revise birthright citizenship.

"I am basically for the 14th Amendment," Hatch said. "There are some abuses that are occurring, but we don't need to change the Constitution to stop those abuses."

He does, however, back proposed legislation that would require a parent to be a citizen in order for a U.S.-born child to be granted citizenship.

Republican Senate candidate Mike Lee also supports the change as does Rep. Jason Chaffetz, a co-sponsor of the House bill. Both would back amending the Constitution if legislation failed to resolve their concerns.

"Citizenship matters," Chaffetz said, "and I just fundamentally believe that one of your parents should be a U.S. citizen if you are going to be a U.S. citizen."

If the law is changed, U.S.-born children of undocumented immigrants would be subject to deportation.

"There are consequences to what your parents do and don't do," Chaffetz said. "If they're both here illegally, I just want to enforce the law, and I think [the children] should be deported."

Rebecca Hall, who teaches law and history at the U. and is the grandchild of slaves, said the arguments for a legislative change don't make sense.

"You can't, by statute, contravene the U.S. Constitution," she said, and the 14th Amendment never has been interpreted to restrict citizenship based on the parents' circumstances.

"We're talking about children who are born in this country," she said. "They are citizens of this country. They are subject to its jurisdiction. They are not breaking the law by existing."

Utah Gov. Gary Herbert said last week he would be inclined to support tweaking the Constitution.

And this week, Rep. Paul Ray, R-Clearfield, cited figures showing benefits for citizen children of undocumented immigrants in Utah cost state and federal taxpayers $63.5 million last fiscal year.

Ray said he would sponsor a resolution calling on Congress to change the 14th Amendment.

House Minority Leader David Litvack, D-Salt Lake City, questioned Ray's data and said studies need to examine both the cost and benefit of those children.

Pam Perlich, an economist at the U., said in an interview that research shows undocumented immigrants — much like legal immigrants — contribute more to the economy long term.

Children generally cost society more than adults, she said, and immigrant parents typically are younger and have more kids. But those children grow to become productive members of society and the cost-benefit calculations shift.

"Some of those expenditures in child health care and a child's nutrition and a child's education, that is an investment in who that child becomes," Perlich said. "Those kinds of expenses are not best viewed on a short-term, today's-budget-only point of view."

A recent report by the Pew Hispanic Center estimated that 8 percent of the 4.3 million children born in the United States in 2008 had at least one parent who was an undocumented immigrant.

The children of undocumented immigrants make up about 7 percent of the U.S. population under age 18. More than half were born to parents who had been in the country for three years or more.

There is no way to know how many undocumented immigrants live in Utah. Estimates range from 56,000 to 110,000.

gehrke@sltrib.com

Tribune reporter Sheena McFarland contributed to this report. —

Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment

"All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside." —

The law says • Citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment

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