Filipinos are worried that a proposed bill to be authored by Arizona Republican State Senator Russell Pearce, who drafted the tough immigration bill in Arizona, will prohibit the children of illegal immigrants from becoming citizens; even though they were born on U.S soil.

Pearce told media in Arizona that it was never the intent of Constitutional framers to grant citizenship to children of illegal immigrants.

Many supporters of comprehensive immigration reform opposed Pearce's pending bill. Quoting the 14th amendment of the U.S. Constitution, it clearly stated that:

"All persons, born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States."

But many conservatives are supporting the proposed bill by Pearce. They described children of illegals as "anchor babies" and said they do not deserve to live and stay in America as they call for their parents, who are illegal in the United States, to be deported.

Many Filipino-American organizations, like Ugnayan in New York-New Jersey, Damayan Migrant Workers, Philippine Forum, Migrant Filipino Commission, Gabriela Women's Network and others, are backing a comprehensive immigration reform law that would lead to a path of citizenship to Filipinos and other immigrants who are in the United Sates illegally. They say immigrants have contributed economically and work hard in the United Sates and must be allowed to work legally. These groups strongly oppose Pearce's proposed bill and the anti-immigrant law in Arizona.

President Obama supports a comprehensive immigration bill to fix the broken system that would allow immigrants to work legally in the U.S, beef up border security, and would create a legal system for legalizing immigrants.

As debates on immigration heat up, many Democrats believe they will benefit in the long run from a gentler approach to immigration enforcement on the belief that it would move minority groups like Hispanics and Asian Americans to back the Democratic Party. The Republicans meanwhile are being pushed to tone down their anti-immigrant stance as November mid-term elections near.

Immigration is a thorny issue and recent polls showed Hispanic Americans support for President Obama is declining as they get impatient for immigration reform, which was promised by Mr. Obama during his presidential campaign.