WASHINGTON – As President Donald Trump has vowed to “Make America great again,” Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, has introduced legislation that would make America America again.
With 55 co-sponsors, King reintroduced HR 997 – The English Language Unity Act of 2017, which ProEnglish, the nation’s leading advocate of official English, continues to lobby for passage.
The bill would declare English as the official language of the United States, establish a uniform English language for naturalization and to avoid misconstruction of the English language texts of the laws of the United States, pursuant to Congress’ powers to provide for the general welfare of the United States.
Because the United States is comprised of individuals from diverse ethnic, cultural and linguistic backgrounds, throughout the history of the United States it has been the findings of Congress the common thread binding individuals of differing backgrounds has been the English language.
King stated, “The most unifying force in the world has always been a common language. Almost without exception, every nation state, including the Vatican, has at least one official language – except the United States. My English Language Unity Act requires all official functions of the United States to be conducted in English.
“Federal law has long required immigrants to learn English before they can become naturalized American Citizens. America has risen to superpower status because we have successfully assimilated multitudes through English. Today, only leftists oppose Official English. It’s time to make English the Official Language of the Unites States.”
King also introduced HR 140 – The Birthright Citizenship Act of 2017, which currently has 32 co-sponsors, including Arizona Reps. Paul Gosar, Trent Franks, and Andy Biggs.
The bill would end the practice of giving automatic citizenship to children born in the United States to two illegal alien parents.
HR 140 clarifies who is a citizen by birth under section 1 of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution by defining who shall be considered “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States, as follows.
If a person is born in the United States of parents, one of whom is:
- A citizen or national of the United States;
- An alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence in the United States whose residence is in the United States; or
- An alien performing active service in the armed forces (as defined in section 101 of title 10, United States Code.
The amendment would not affect the citizenship or nationality status of any person born before the date of enactment.
In January, as he introduced HR 140, King stated, “A Century ago, it didn’t matter very much that a simple practice began that has now grown into a massive issue of birthright citizenship or the anchor baby agenda. When automatic citizenship started being granted to all babies born in the United States, our lawmakers missed the clause in the 14th Amendment that says, ‘And subject to the jurisdiction thereof.’ So once the practice began, it grew out of proportion and today between 340,000 and 750,000 babies are born in America each year that get automatic citizenship even though both parents are illegal. I know of no other country in the world that does this, and it must end. My Birthright Citizenship Act of 2017 fixes it, clarifies the 14th Amendment and clarifies the Constitutional meaning of the clause, ‘And subject to the jurisdiction thereof.’ President-elect Trump repeatedly called for this bill, and it should be a top priority in Congress.”
