The battle over immigration reform may now be spilling over to the US Constitution.

On Aug. 4, buzz picked up around our nation's capitol when Republican leaders began endorsing the idea to alter the 14th Amendment to not allow automatic citizenship to children born to illegal immigrants in the United States.

The line in question states, "All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States ..." As it stands, all individuals born in the United States are granted automatic citizenship, regardless of immigration status.

Senator Jeff Sessions of Arizona told the media, "I'm not sure exactly what the drafters of the (14th) amendment had in mind, but I doubt it was that somebody could fly in from Brazil and have a child and fly back home with that child, and that child is forever an American citizen."

The 14th Amendment was adopted in 1868. Its purpose was to help grant citizenship to recently freed slaves.