Birthright Citizenship (and Right to Bear Arms)

So it looks like the Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus wants to revoke the principle of granting U.S. citizenship to children of undocumented immigrants born in the U.S., according to a L.A. Times article:

The principle at issue rests on the first sentence of the 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868 to guarantee the rights of emancipated slaves: "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."

Some lawmakers advocating tougher immigration laws contend that the amendment has been misinterpreted for decades. Conservatives maintain that although illegal immigrants are subject to criminal prosecution and are expected to abide by U.S. laws and regulations, they are not "subject to the jurisdiction" of the United States in the full sense intended by the amendment's authors — and their children therefore fall outside the scope of its protection.

Using this interpretation, we might as well ban guns, too, right? The right to bear arms, stipulated in the 2nd Amendment, has long been a Republican mantra. The 2nd Amendment states: "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed."

Applying the line of reasoning these GOP lawmakers (a couple members of the caucus are Democrats) are using, we can say that the right to bear arms has also been misinterpreted because the militia today is not "in the full sense intended by the amendment's authors" either.

In the end, this is probably a non-issue though, as there is no Senate support for this measure:

"There is no support for the concept in the Senate," said Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.). "There are certain things that we have done as a nation for a long time that I don't think we're going to change. Rolling back the clock is not going to solve the problem of immigration."

This is just some opportunistic crap that will get nowhere. I'm sure this is the insightful analysis you were looking for.