Rewriting the 14th Amendment

Illegal immigration has been a problem since 1492. What is presently talked about in main-stream is people come over the U.S. border illegally. What is not talked about is those who are here legally and through no fault of their own end up being labeled 'illegal.'

The example I have is concerning work visas. A person from another country gets a work visa to work for a specific company in the U.S. They go to that company, but the company says they have no work for them. So, the person is stuck in this country because their visa is for working at that company only. They don't have money to go home, so end up staying in the U.S., their visa expires and they're labeled 'illegal'. With some students, they don't know their visa has expired and subsequently are labeled 'illegal'.

Now the Republicans in Montana want to further complicate citizenship. This time through rewriting the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. This Amendment was ratified on July 9, 1868, and granted citizenship to “all persons born or naturalized in the United States,” which included former slaves recently freed.

The new ratified version of the amendment, HB392 was created by Representative James Knox. It would redefine citizenship by denying children born to illegal immigrants automatic citizenship. At least one parent must be a US citizen. (I guess this means that the parents are not legally married, since one is an illegal immigrant. I wonder about the legalities of this ratification.)

The new bill would also deny citizenship to dual-citizens, such as those who belong to an Indian Nation. But, Knox says he'll make an amendment to include Native Americans.

Immigration is federal jurisdiction not state. How can a state change the US Constitution?

Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer says he will veto the bill if it passes.

Also being introduced is HB152, sponsored by Republican Representative Ted Washburn. This bill would restrict voter registration to only those with Montana driver's license, Montana ID or tribal ID.  No other form of ID would be accepted. Currently social security cards, student ID, federally issued ID, and other forms of government documents are used as identification.