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Article 1 Section 9 of the U. S. Constitution reads, “the migration or importations of such persons as any of the states now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight”. Article 1 Section 8 gives the Congress the power to establish a uniform rule of naturalization” by which the importees become citizens of the United States. Anyone who was already here automatically became a citizen. The privilege of voting is an entirely different matter and was governed by the terms of the individual State constitutions. Maine, for example, considered only male citizens of the United States of the age of 21, excepting paupers; persons under guardianship and Indians not taxed being resident for at least 3 months next preceding any election.
These provisions did not abolish slavery but merely enabled the Congress to stop it. The clause however illustrates the intent of the framers quite clearly and that is they wanted to reserve the expansion of the population to those already in the country at its adoption. To say they intended the country to be a haven for the downtrodden and oppressed borders on the ridiculous. Slavery or involuntary servitude was common in the mother country of England but occurred as a result of debt. The slavery or involuntary servitude prevalent in the south from the country’s founding had existed for centuries as a consequence of war.
What these terms meant for the South, if the Congress was to carry through on its promise to stop slavery in 1808, was the plantation owners would have to grow their own replacements as opposed to purchasing them in the marketplace. This they did, but in the process needed to support not only the able bodied who could work, but the very young and the very old. Article 4 Section 2 of the Constitution made provision for the return of any person held to service or labor in one State had to be returned on claim of the party to whom the service was due.
Disregarding the implications of these provisions it is clear that the Congress, under the law can only stop immigration and it is only the original 13 States who can allow people in. The intent was to grow the country’s population from within and that was even before we won Florida in a war, bought the Midwest from the French and won Arizona, New Mexico and California from the Mexicans in a war and bought Alaska from the Russians. All of which, including the United States were stolen from their indigenous populations.
When the population of the country was first determined by the 1790 census, most of the population was not even counted, certainly not the resident Indians. By 2015 all ethnic groups, save Hispanics, was below replacement and the overall total was below replacement, that is 2.1 per mother. So where is our population growth coming from? The answer is legal and illegal migration from Hispanic countries. If you don’t believe me look to the demographics of our population and you will note that only Hispanics in the U. S. have a birth rate above 2.1. Whites and Blacks are 1.85 and Asians even lower.
We may be a country of laws but the politicians do not obey or enforce the ones that don’t suit them. The Constitution of the United States is the law of the land and all the immigration laws passed by the Congress and enforced by the Executive are unconstitutional. You cannot amend the Constitution except by the process spelled out in the document. Congress has no authority to amend it by legislation.