Then a labor shortage hit England.
Parliament, at the urging of Queen Anne, enacted the Foreign
Protestants Naturalization Act 1708. The law opened with this remarkably
relevant policy statement: “the increase of people is a means of advancing the wealth
and strength of a nation.”
The preamble stated:
Whereas the increase of
people is a means of advancing the wealth and strength of a nation; and whereas
many strangers of the Protestant or reformed religion … would be induced to
transport themselves and their estates into this kingdom if they might be
partakers of the advantages and privileges which the natural born do enjoy, be
it enacted:
The law granted
these immigrants natural-born citizenship, upon taking an oath (and receiving a
sacrament). We call this idea “naturalization” (without the religious
requirement).
And here is where
the DACA comparison comes in. The children of these immigrants— children who
were born in France or Germany, but who resettled with their parents in England—were
automatically granted citizenship:
the
children of all natural-born subjects out of the ligeance her Majesty, her
heirs or successors, shall be deemed, adjudged, and taken to be natural-born
subjects of this kingdom….”
That is a precedent
for DACA, even though this connection has not been made.
DACA opponents will
be unimpressed by this history. Not I. People who fled persecution in France
and Germany because they could not freely practice their religion are similar
to parents who have left Central America due to extreme violence. Separated by
300 years, all these people have had a common dream: Freedom to live their
lives without persecution.
England decided in
1708 to enact a law to legalize its “DACA” immigrants.
We have no Queen
Ann, nor a willing Parliament. Who says that history is a story or progress? We
fail in comparison to England, circa 1708.
Source:
Reports from the Commissioners Vol. XXV (1868-9), at
107, available https://books.google.com/books?id=WChcAAAAQAAJ&pg=RA1-PA107&dq=the+children+of+all+natural+born+subjects+born+out+of+the+ligeance+of+her+Majesty+her+heires&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi8lpSV25bhAhWHyIMKHau1BtMQ6AEILDAA#v=onepage&q=the%20children%20of%20all%20natural%20born%20subjects%20born%20out%20of%20the%20ligeance%20of%20her%20Majesty%20her%20heires&f=false
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