Graham mulls 'birthright citizenship'

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WASHINGTON, July 29 (UPI) -- U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., is considering a constitutional amendment to end the 14th Amendment grant of U.S. citizenship by birthright, he said.

The conservative Republican Wednesday said with 12 million illegal immigrants currently in the United States, the time may have come to end the right of children of immigrants to automatic citizenship.

"People come here to have babies," he said during an interview with Greta Van Susteren of Fox News. "They come here to drop a child. It's called 'drop and leave.' To have a child in America, they cross the border, they go to the emergency room, have a child, and that child's automatically an American citizen. That shouldn't be the case. That attracts people here for all the wrong reasons."

Graham said he wants to be fair and humane, but he doesn't want 20 million more illegals living in the country 20 years from now, Politico reported.

"I may introduce a constitutional amendment that changes the rules if you have a child here," said Graham. "Birthright citizenship I think is a mistake. … We should change our Constitution and say if you come here illegally and you have a child, that child's automatically not a citizen."