Tom Tancredo must be in need of an attention fix for his fledgling Presidential campaign which while never getting off the ground still took a nose-dive when immigration reform fell off the table.His latest is to introduce a bill that he knows will not pass but hopes will push emotional buttons back into overdrive.Everybody knows that if you are born in this country, you automatically are a U.S. citizen. Under Tancredo’s bill, a baby born to undocumented residents would be stripped of citizenship.Tancredo’s legal foundation for this is his unique view of the 14th Amendment. How unique?

Tancredo doesn’t have any co-sponsors for his bill. Asked what support he expected, Tancredo, standing alone on a podium, looked to the right and the left and noted the absence of fellow lawmakers.

Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition director Julien Ross condemned Tancredo’s bill as a stunt.”It provides no solution to our broken immigration system,” Ross said. “It’s a complete slap in the face of hardworking immigrants, and it’s out of touch with what the American people want.”

Here are the specifics of Tancredo’s bill:

  • Eliminates family-based immigration for extended family members of U.S. citizens and permanent residents.
  • Changes the automatic citizenship granted to U.S.-born children. Those children become citizens only when one parent is a citizen or permanent legal resident.
  • Prohibits states from granting in-state tuition rates to illegal immigrants unless they offer the same tuition level to all U.S. citizens, regardless of state of residence.
  • Requires the president to build border fences authorized by Congress in 1996 and 2006.
  • Allows imprisonment of not less than one year of an employer who repeatedly and knowingly hires illegal immigrants.

[Cross-posted at TalkLeft.com]