Is citizenship of the country you are born in an absurd privilege?

["Dave Farber" <farber () gmail com>]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne () warpspeed com>
> Date: August 29, 2018 at 09:25:59 EDT
> To: Multiple recipients of Dewayne-Net <dewayne-net () warpspeed com>
> Subject: [Dewayne-Net] Is citizenship of the country you are born in an absurd privilege?
> Reply-To: dewayne-net () warpspeed com
>
> Is citizenship of the country you are born in an absurd privilege?
> Canada and the US are debating their policy. Perhaps it is ridiculous that 10 million people in the world are 
> stateless while so many of us take our citizenship for granted
> By Arwa Mahdawi
> Aug 29 2018
> <https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/aug/29/birthright-citizenship-privilege-canada-america-policy>
>
> Should you automatically have a right to citizenship of the country in which you are born, regardless of where your 
> parents are from?
>
> Most governments around the world would answer “no”. Jus soli, also known as birthright citizenship, is not terribly 
> common these days. In the UK, for example, anyone born in the country after 1983 only becomes a citizen if a parent 
> is a British citizen or is “settled” (ie has permanent residency) in the UK at the time of birth. Similar provisions 
> operate across Europe. By contrast, the US and Canada grant automatic citizenship to anyone born on their soil.
>
> But the North American embrace of birthright citizenship may not have much of a future. Last weekend, Canada’s 
> Conservative party passed a resolution calling for the government to stop granting citizenship to people born in 
> Canada if their parents are not citizens.
>
> The US has also been having a debate about birthright citizenship. In July, Michael Anton, a former national security 
> official in the Trump administration, said in the Washington Post that “citizenship shouldn’t be a birthright”. “The 
> notion that simply being born within the geographical limits of the United States automatically confers US 
> citizenship is an absurdity,” he argued.
>
> To some degree, Anton is right. It is absurd that being born within the geographical limits of the US confers you 
> incredible freedom of movement, whereas being born within the geographical limits of, say, Gaza, ensures that travel 
> is a constant nightmare. It is an absurdity that 10 million people in the world are stateless while citizenship is 
> something many of us take for granted. As the question of birthright citizenship becomes more of a hot topic in North 
> America, it would behoove us all to check our citizenship privileges.
>
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