• The United States Constitution provides little guidance on the topic of immigration.us supreme court image by jedphoto from Fotolia.com
  
  One major issue the founding Fathers hardly dealt with is immigration, which is why the word itself does not appear in the U.S. Constitution. However the Constitution does provide four instances in which immigration or citizenship is mentioned.
  
  

Rule of Naturalization

• Article I of the United States Constitution gives Congress the authority to establish a "uniform rule of naturalization" for non-citizens. This amendment allows Congress to create a uniform standard by which legal or illegal immigrants may be naturalized as citizens of the United States. Because this power is given to the Congress, no state may create its own rules and procedures for naturalization.
  
  

Elected Executives

• Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution allows that only a citizen born in the United States may serve as president of the United States. No person who has received citizenship through naturalization will be eligible to become president of the United States. This effectively means that only a naturally born citizen of the United States may serve as vice president since the vice president is first in line for the presidency should the president be unable to fulfill his obligations to the nation. The later adopted twelfth amendment to the United States Constitution formally prohibits any individual that is constitutionally ineligible to serve as president, from being eligible to serve as vice president.
  
  

Citizenship Standard

• The fourteenth amendment to the Constitution sets forth the standard by which a person is considered a citizen of the United States. Every person born in the United States is a citizen, as well as all people who have been naturalized in this country. This amendment also disallows states from establishing or enforcing laws that will trample on the liberties or immunities of citizens of the United States.