Thread: IMMIGRATION: Initiative targets U.S.-born children of illega

IMMIGRATION: Initiative targets U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants

Opponents say having two different kinds of birth docs is against the law

By EDWARD SIFUENTES - Staff Writer | Wednesday, April 15, 2009 5:57 PM PDT ∞

A statewide initiative now being circulated would create two kinds of birth certificates: one for the U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants and one for everyone else.

The measure also would deny publicly funded health benefits to the children of illegal immigrants.

Opponents say that would be discriminatory and unconstitutional.

The initiative, drafted by anti-illegal immigration activists, was endorsed by several former officials, including former state Sen. Bill Morrow, R-Oceanside, and former U.S. Attorney Peter Nunez.

A spokesman for Rep. Brian Bilbray, R-Solana Beach, said the congressman is supportive of the effort, but has not officially endorsed the initiative.

By taking aim at the children of illegal immigrants, the initiative raises the specter of the controversial Proposition 187, a 1994 measure that would have denied a public education to illegal immigrant children. It was approved by the state's voters, but declared largely unconstitutional in federal court.

The new initiative takes a slightly different approach by focusing on children whose parents are undocumented.

Nunez, now a professor at the University of San Diego, said Monday that the initiative was needed to help deter illegal immigrants from coming to the U.S.

"Anything we can do to make it clear who is here legally and who is here illegally hopefully will discourage people from coming," Nunez said.

But those who argue that illegal immigrants should be given a chance to become legal residents say the initiative would be overly intrusive.

"I can't think of anything more Orwellian," said Dan Siciliano, a research fellow with the Immigration Policy Center, an immigration policy research organization that favors creating paths for illegal immigrants to become legal residents.

Supporters must collect 433,971 valid signatures from registered voters by Sept. 8 to put the initiative on the June 2010 ballot, according to the secretary of state.

If approved by voters, the initiative would require that parents show proof of legal residency before receiving their child's birth certificate.

Those who cannot would have to pay an additional $75 fee to the county registrar, provide employment information, the mother's fingerprints and three passport-type photos of the mother. The county registrar would be required to report the information to the Department of Homeland Security.

Illegal immigrant parents would not receive a standard birth certificate for their U.S.-born children. They would receive a "Birth to Foreign Parents document," according to the Taxpayer Revolution group's Web site, the organization that sponsored the initiative.

Kristina Campbell is a staff attorney with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, a Latino rights group. She said treating children differently on the basis of their parents' immigration status is a violation of the equal-protection clause of the U.S. Constitution.

"It's creating different kinds of classes of people," Campbell said. "There's not different kinds of citizenships in this country."

It also would deny them other public benefits, such as CalWorks, the state's welfare program that assists mostly single mothers with children. Illegal immigrants are not entitled to welfare, but their citizen children are.

The initiative would dismantle the program, said Ted Hilton, the measure's main sponsor. If the program is not scrapped, the initiative would require that benefits be limited to kids 5 years old and younger, rather than age 18, the current cap.

"What we have is a program that serves parents who are here in violation of federal law," Hilton said.

The group has raised and spent about $200,000, largely from small donations, according to the secretary of state's Web site. Hilton said the group is relying on a grass-roots effort to collect the signatures and added that funding will pick up later.

Hilton said the initiative also aims to eliminate "birth tourism." A 2002 Los Angeles Times story described the practice, in which foreign expectant mothers come to the U.S. on tourist visas to give birth so their children can become U.S. citizens.

The number of U.S.-born children with illegal immigrant parents grew to 4 million in 2008 from 2.7 million in 2003, according to the Pew Hispanic Center, a research organization that focuses on the Latino population.

Children born in the U.S. are considered citizens under the Constitution's 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868. However, those who oppose birthright citizenship for the children of illegal immigrants say the amendment does not apply.

Section 1 of the amendment, drafted with freed slaves in mind, says: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States."

Some advocacy groups seeking to crack down on illegal immigration say the amendment has been misapplied over the years and that it was never intended to grant citizenship automatically to babies of illegal immigrants.

While opponents say it would be difficult for the initiative to pass, Nunez said enough people in the state dislike illegal immigration to give it a good chance.

He pointed to the passage of Prop. 187, which he said was "more draconian," but nevertheless passed with a nearly 60 percent majority.

Immigrant rights advocates say the initiative is further proof that the nation needs to overhaul its immigration system by providing a path for illegal immigrants to become legal residents, creating a guest worker program and punishing employers who hire undocumented workers.

Other efforts in recent years to deny certain benefits to illegal immigrants, such as driver's licenses and lower in-state college tuition fees, have failed.

Contact staff writer Edward Sifuentes at (760) 740-3511 or esifuentes@nctimes.com.

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2009/04 ... 77d470.txt

"It's creating different kinds of classes of people," Campbell said. "There's not different kinds of citizenships in this country."

[/b]There is only ONE kind of citizenship in America. Illegal aliens arent citizens of America.

Illegals and Anchors are not US citizens and therefore do not have right to the same opportunities and privileges as US citizens. Period.

Originally Posted by butterbean

"It's creating different kinds of classes of people," Campbell said. "There's not different kinds of citizenships in this country."

There is only ONE kind of citizenship in America. Illegal aliens arent citizens of America.

why is it so hard to see if you are ILLEGALLY in this or any country you are not a citizen? i dare these bleeding hearts, spending our money to jump the fence into mexico and declare themselves mexican!! that will end with their rear ends in jail.

Anchor baby citizenship is as big or bigger a magnet for illegals than jobs. In their home country they cannot get paid for every child they birth. Once they have anchor children, start them in the U.S. schools, buy a house, etc., they never intend to leave. Stopping birthright citizenship is imperative!

Since states are responsible for the issuance of birth certificates, they should be able to model their issuance in whatever way they please!

This can all be stopped right now by repealing the articles of the 14th Amendment, which were created to guarantee that the children of those people who had been indentured into slavery; as well as the indentured people themselves, would obtain citizenship. That Amendment was meant for them and only for them. That was a long time ago, now and it should hold no jurisdiction in present times.

The 14th Amendment does not mean that children of foreign nationals would become automatic citizens, thereby allowing their parents to abuse our Social Services System and the American Taxpayers. There are people who come here illegally and legally who work the system and they think they are entitled to do so.

Just look at the case of OctoMom. I don't know whether she is here legally or illegally, but whatever the case, she knew exactly what she was doing; she had those kids knowing that Social Services; that is, the American Taxpayers, would pay the expenses of raising her children. Her attitude is outright blatant. It is clear-cut abuse against the system and rampant abuse against the U.S. Taxpayer; moreover, it needs to be stopped in its tracks. Period.

Here is the link to an interesting article that was sent by another ALIPACer as a reply to my similar posting elsewhere in regard to this subject:

http://www.newswithviews.com/Wooldridge/frosty41.htm

THE ABUSE OF THE FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT
PART 1 of 3


By Frosty Wooldridge & Stephany Gabbard, RN
March 12, 2005
NewsWithViews.com

My commute to work exceeds fifty miles but it gives me time to reflect. It is 1987 and I am an obstetrical nurse working in the crowded San Fernando Valley of California. Tonight I drive to my job in "Labor and Delivery," knowing the scenario before I arrive. Eight other nurses will battle through the night in this very busy obstetrical unit. Our patients are 99 percent pregnant illegal alien women who have broken United States immigration law to birth an American citizen child.

This will be their families’ entry ticket into the United States. For them, no pesky visa applications and no waiting in line for several years like so many millions that enter this country through the front door. Pregnant Third World women have discovered that the only thing they have to do is cross the U.S.--Mexico border. The Fourteenth Amendment is their ticket.

It is now seventeen years later and things have worsened. The babies I helped deliver are older teenagers. When they turn 21, they will be eligible to bring their family members from Mexico, Central America and South America, i.e., chain migration on an ever-accelerating spinning wheel. Whole industries have now developed around abusing the Fourteenth Amendment. Pregnant Korean tourists come to the U.S. on travel visas to have their "anchor" babies. Coyotes dealing in human traffic are paid $1,500.00 to $25,000.00 per person to shuttle pregnant illegal aliens across our southern border. Our politicians and elites wink at this blatant law breaking and do nothing. The colonization of our country continues with the cooperation of our government. That means your senator and representative aid this illegal baby invasion. None dare call it treason. Most Americans mistakenly trust their politicians to do the right thing. Congressional members from every state betray that trust daily.

The Fourteenth Amendment: It's a simple document, a constitutional amendment drafted after the Civil War to assure that newly emancipated black slaves would never be denied citizenship by the States. The drafters had no idea that years later it would be used to make a mockery of our immigration laws. Alan Wall, an American journalist living in Mexico states, "An illegal alien can cross the border, have a baby five minutes later, and that baby is automatically declared a citizen of the USA automatically.â€

This was on the local TV news in San Diego tonight.