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Gonzales: No Constitutional Amendment Needed For New Immigration Policy

By Andrew Ramonas

Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales wrote in an Op-ed commentary published on Friday by the Washington Post that he opposes revising the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution to address concerns about the immigration process.

Alberto Gonzales (Getty)

Gonzales, who is a descendant of Mexican immigrants and a former Texas State Supreme Court judge, had a tumultuous tenure at the helm of the U.S. Justice Department under former President George W. Bush.

In his Op-ed article he wrote that Congress should pass ?comprehensive immigration legislation? to keep illegal immigrants from settling in the United States, instead of rewriting the amendment.”

The amendment to the Constitution says , ?All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.?

Gonzales’ views seemed to put him at odds with conservatives have called for a change in the amendment in an effort to keep undocumented women from coming to the United States to bear children, who would become U.S. citizens.

Changes to the Constitution require the approval of legislatures in three-fourths of the states or ratifying conventions in three-fourths of the states.

?Based on principles from my tenure as a judge, I think constitutional amendments should be reserved for extraordinary circumstances that we cannot address effectively through legislation or regulation,? Gonzales wrote in the article scheduled for publication by the Post on Sunday, which was published on Friday in the paper’s online edition.

?Because most undocumented workers come here to provide for themselves and their families, a constitutional amendment will not solve our immigration crisis,” Gonzales said. “People will certainly continue to cross our borders to find a better life, irrespective of the possibilities of U.S. citizenship.?

The former Attorney General wrote that immigration legislation should bolster national security and the economy. He also said that legislation should include a strong temporary-worker program that would help employers hire foreign workers for jobs that U.S. citizens do not want or cannot be filled by Americans alone.

Gonzales wrote that the any immigration legislation has to be ?practical, enforceable and capable of effective implementation without enormous delays or large numbers of mistakes.?

?As our nation’s first Hispanic attorney general, I have seen both the beauty of our tradition of immigration as well as the threats that come with a broken system,? Gonzales wrote. ?We need to fix the process.?

Full post as published by Main Justice on August 20, 2010 (boomark / email).