Anybody up for *another* constitutional amendment?
Both houses ponder foreign-born presidents
[BTW Mike, I did not spend all day at the computer yesterday...went to one of the county parks with family and dogs to walk and skateboard. Lovely day!]
Published in the Asbury Park Press 3/01/04
By KATHY MATHESON
STAFF WRITER
Overshadowed by the recent headlines about a possible constitutional amendment banning gay marriage was a brief item about another proposed change.
On Feb. 22's "Meet the Press," California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger endorsed an amendment that would allow immigrants to occupy the Oval Office.
"There's no reason why not," the Austrian-born Schwarzenegger said, according to a transcript of the show. ""Look at the kind of contribution that people like Henry Kissinger have made, Madeleine Albright."
Kissinger and Albright, both former secretaries of state, were born in Germany and in Czechoslovakia, now the Czech Republic, respectively.
The Constitution makes no comment on the birthplaces of Cabinet-level officials. However, it is explicit on the requirements for the presidency: The office is reserved for natural-born citizens, at least 35 years old, who have lived in the United States for 14 years.
"(An immigrant) can be a member of Congress, a member of the Supreme Court, a member of the Cabinet," said Alan Tarr, chairman of the political science department at Rutgers-Camden. ""The only office not available to people not born in the (United States) is the presidency itself."
That could change. Bills pending in both houses of Congress propose a Constitutional amendment allowing immigrants to be president.
The Senate bill, sponsored by Republican Orrin Hatch of Utah, would permit foreigners who have been naturalized U.S. citizens for 20 years to run for the nation's top job.
The House bill, co-sponsored by Reps. Vic Snyder, D-Ark., Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and Barney Frank, D-Mass., would allow naturalized citizens with 35 years of U.S. residency to run.
Former Holmdel Mayor David Chai, who was born in China but has been a U.S. citizen for more than 30 years, supports the idea.
Immigrants have contributed so much to the nation's prosperity that "political aspirations, for some folks, is just another way of serving the country," said Chai, 66.
"There's no reason not to allow them to do it," he said.
But making it legal and actually seeing it happen are two different things, Chai noted. Women and blacks are allowed to run for president, he pointed out, but very few ever have.
The Constitution's framers put in the presidential requirements at a time when the country was young, and there was a fear of foreign governments installing puppet rulers here, said Joe Patten, an assistant professor of political science at Monmouth University.
Yet since the United States has established itself as a world power, and millions have immigrated here in search of a better life, there is talk of lifting the restriction.
"It's becoming more of an issue as our population becomes more heterogenous," Patten said.
New Jersey especially has a large foreign-born population, and its clout is becoming more visible as naturalized U.S. citizens are elected to office. Assembly Speaker Albio Sires, D-Hudson, for example, was born in Cuba.
The third-most powerful politician in the state, Sires said Tuesday that while he has no aspirations to the West Wing right now, a Constitutional amendment is "an interesting concept."
Still, the odds don't favor a change, Patten said.
"In our history, there have been 10,000 proposals to amend the Constitution," he said. ""Of the 10,000 attempts, only 33 have passed."
Actually, 33 passed Congress, but only 27 were ratified by the states. An amendment must first get the support of two-thirds of the House and Senate, then three-fourths of state legislatures. Alternately, two-thirds of the states could call for a constitutional convention, but any changes would still have to be ratified by three-fourths of them.
Some might think that such overwhelming support might be hard to garner in a post-Sept. 11 world, but Chai, the former Holmdel mayor, doesn't see it that way. He did say, however, that it is harder for mainstream society to accept non-European immigrants.
"I think that the country doesn't have to worry about 9/11 in the sense that foreign-ers are not trustworthy," Chai said. ""It's really the issue of the ability to communicate and get the trust of the electorate one step at a time."
Lacey Township Committee-woman Helen Dela Cruz, who was born in the Philippines, agreed.
All potential candidates are so thoroughly scrutinized, Dela Cruz said.
"I don't see why one born abroad should not be qualified for the presidency," she said.
At the same time, there is a loophole that bothers Jack Martin, special projects direc-tor of the Washington-based Federation for American Immi-gration Reform.
Illegal immigrants who come to the United States and have chil-dren here end up as parents of U.S. citizens. Those immigrants could then move back to their home countries, and their off-spring could still be elected to the White House.
"They don't know anything about our laws or society, but they would be eligible to run for the presidency," Martin said.
The immigration reform group, which Martin said is dedicated to "restoring moderation to our immigration policy," thinks on-ly children born to U.S. citizens or permanent residents should be U.S. citizens.
Joseph Ferraina, superinten-dent of schools in Long Branch, was born in Buenos Aires, Ar-gentina. He came here in 1953, just before he turned 13.
Though he's not losing any sleep over his inability to be-come president, Ferraina said it would be nice to have an amendment allowing it.
"That's what America is all about," he said. ""Dreams." Kathy Matheson: (732) 643-4230 or kmatheson@app.com |
