BLACKS FOCUS ON 14th AMENDMENT

PHOENIX, AZ - As state senators throughout the United States begin to attack birthright citizenship, and undermine the integrity of the 14th amendment the Black Alliance for Just Immigration today issued the following statement:

The Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI) condemns any attempts to reinterpret the 14th amendment by denying birthright citizenship to anyone born in the United States despite their parents’ citizenship status. As an organization and movement comprised of African Americans, African immigrants, Caribbean immigrants and Afro-Latinos residing in the United States we know that this kind of denial of basic citizenship rights to children will further disenfranchise communities of color and create a class of stateless youth.

These attempts to undermine the 14th amendment are unconstitutional and are part of the tradition of racism and xenophobia that our ancestors have fought hard to dismantle. Furthermore, the attack on the 14th amendment marks an unfortunate shift in our political discourse and only signifies that we are moving further from real solutions to our complex national and global concerns. Moreover, this type of xenophobic discourse does not begin to address the root causes of migration and is not congruent with the realities of the disastrous effects of globalization, which is the principle cause of modern day migratory patterns.

The Black Alliance for Just Immigration will stand with immigrant communities in Arizona and across the country in opposing the reinterpretation of the 14th Amendment and in asserting the birthright citizenship rights of children of undocumented immigrants.

The Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI) is an education and advocacy group comprised. BAJI engages African Americans and other communities in dialogue that leads to actions that challenge U.S. immigration policy and the underlying issues of race, racism and economic inequity that frame it.