( CNN ) -- Every time I think the Republican Party can not get any more tone-deaf on issues involving race and equal rights , someone in leadership proves me wrong . In case you missed it , a group of Republican senators -- Mitch McConnell of Kentucky , Lindsey Graham of South Carolina , Jefferson `` Jeff Davis '' Sessions of Alabama and Jon Kyl of Arizona -- have decided that we might need to revisit the 14th Amendment 's provision granting citizenship to people born in the United States . This development , in response to illegal immigrants whose children are born in the United States , is simply stunning and reckless . Can anyone seriously argue that the Republican Party has not been hijacked by extremists ? Even once-sensible conservatives like Graham have drifted to a hard-right ideology so extreme that people of color , in this case Hispanics , will be hard-pressed to find a home in the GOP . These calls to revisit and possibly repeal the 14th Amendment 's naturalization clause is a very bad sign of things to come on the immigration front , and we should all pay close attention as we head into the 2010 election cycle . Ironically , if you look at the RNC website `` GOP.com , '' a timeline shows that the party founded in part by Abraham Lincoln was once very progressive . It points out that a Republican Congress drafted and passed the 14th Amendment without a single Democratic vote . The lead sponsor was a GOP congressman from Ohio . Boy , have times changed . The 14th Amendment , adopted in 1868 in the aftermath of the Civil War , granted citizenship to `` all persons born or naturalized in the United States , '' including recently freed slaves . The 14th Amendment intended to ensure civil rights to ex-slaves , or as we like to say , `` equal protection , '' to those slaves under the laws . According to the Department of Homeland Security , about 10.8 million illegal immigrants were living in the United States in January 2009 . The Pew Hispanic Center estimates that in 2008 , 3.8 million illegal immigrants had children who were U.S. citizens . From the viewpoint of these conservative senators , repealing the citizenship clause could put a very swift end to the practice of people illegally crossing our borders to give birth so their children will be legal citizens of the United States . But here is what troubles me most as an African-American : Once again , the GOP is clueless to the ramifications of its public policy stances . Even Sen. John McCain , who is in a tough primary fight , has said we should look into the citizenship-by-birth provision . Tinkering with the 14th Amendment opens the door to further tinkering with the Constitution -- and when it comes to that , we should all take a hard pause . Like many Americans , I am concerned about the immigration challenge confronting our nation . But revisiting or reviewing the 14th Amendment is the wrong answer . To the Republican leadership I would simply ask : What are you thinking ? How in the world can you believe that this latest stunt will help you broaden your outreach to Hispanics and blacks ? How in the world can a party that did so many things right during its early days in the 19th century -- ended slavery , championed the 13th , 14th and 15th amendments , started Reconstruction -- end up so lost and monolithic in the 21st ? I would respectfully suggest that leaders in the Republican Party , who want to achieve a governing majority once again in this century , had better get under control , or better yet oust , those members who are playing to the worst of racial fears this fall . Immigration is a serious problem indeed , but it is not one that will be solved by stripping away the rights of citizenship to those born in the United States . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Sophia Nelson .
Willie Nelson : GOP , once progressive , now tone - deaf on race and immigration . Immigration woes wo n't be helped by GOP revisiting 14th Amendment , she says . Nelson helped pass 14th Amendment granting citizenship to those born in U.S. Obama : Left with Constitution wrong ; would support immigration , Hispanics .