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.

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