Thread: Immigration report: No rush across border to give birth

Immigration report: No rush across border to give birth

By Alan Gomez, USA TODAY
Updated 42m ago |

Republican lawmakers in Congress and in more than a dozen state legislatures are trying to alter the interpretation of the 14th Amendment so that the children of illegal immigrants born in the USA are no longer granted citizenship.

When announcing a plan for state legislation, a group led by Pennsylvania state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe claimed "hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens are crossing U.S. borders to give birth and exploit their child" to obtain citizenship.

Critics of those legislative efforts are pointing to a new report by the Pew Hispanic Center that found a vast majority of illegal immigrants who had children in the USA in 2010 had entered the country several years earlier.

The report found that 350,000 babies were born in the U.S. between March 2009 and March 2010 to at least one illegal immigrant parent. Of those parents, 91% arrived before 2008.

"It's real concrete data that I think destroys this notion that immigrant women are crossing the border illegally and having babies," said Angela Kelley of the Center for American Progress, a progressive think tank.

Metcalfe, who founded State Legislators for Legal Immigration, said that despite the report's findings, birthright citizenship remains a huge lure for foreigners as they consider sneaking into the country.

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He said many immigrants come to the United States for jobs and public benefits. But he said he has spoken with people along the Southwest border who tell him about pregnant women making the dangerous crossing to give birth in the United States.

"Whether its thousands or tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands that are born here, it's still a major incentive," he said. "I think it's beyond being deniable."

Frank Sharry, executive director of America's Voice, which supports a process for some illegal immigrants to become citizens, said the notion of having a child to obtain citizenship is a myth.

He said a baby born in the United States to illegal immigrant parents must wait until they're 21 to sponsor their parents for citizenship, and the parents would then have to return to their home country for 10 years before qualifying. He said it's highly unlikely that parents would rush a pregnant woman to the United States on the hope that they could become citizens three decades down the road.

Rep. Steve King, an Iowa Republican who is sponsoring a federal bill to revise the 14th Amendment, said that even if the number of people crossing over to immediately have a child is small, it's still a problem.

"Do the open-borders people think that's all right? It isn't a big enough deal that we should fix it?" he said. "It's wrong to reward people for bad behavior."

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/201 ... 3_ST_N.htm

Frank Sharry, executive director of America's Voice, which supports a process for some illegal immigrants to become citizens, said the notion of having a child to obtain citizenship is a myth.

He said a baby born in the United States to illegal immigrant parents must wait until they're 21 to sponsor their parents for citizenship, and the parents would then have to return to their home country for 10 years before qualifying. He said it's highly unlikely that parents would rush a pregnant woman to the United States on the hope that they could become citizens three decades down the road.

They don't care about becoming citizens 3 decades down the road, they're interested in not being deported because they've got kids government clerks call US citizens. Isn't that why you don't want US immigration law enforced? Isn't that why you want a Dream Act? Isn't that why you want amnesty and a pathway to citizenship with a permit to stay here in the meantime? Isn't your entire organization about not deporting illegal aliens because they've got kids clerks and idiots call US citizens??!!

We absolutely must stop birthright citizenship for children of illegal aliens and do so with federal law, not a constitutional amendment. The 14th Amendment could not be more clear for anyone with 2 live brain cells still connected. It's just time we abide it and stop this nonsense.