Thread: Illegal immigrants' high birth rate feeds debate

Pew study shows that immigrant group has higher fertility rates, more likely to be married and of child-bearing age By Victor Manuel Ramos, Orlando Sentinel
August 11, 2010

Brenda Narvaez sees herself as a typical American teenager who works at a mall, likes to spend time outdoors, watches soccer and loves sappy songs.

But the Miami high-schooler worries about her future because her mom is an illegal immigrant who could be deported at any time. That would create havoc for Brenda, 15, and her 10-year-old brother, both born in the U.S.

The two are part of a growing population of children caught in a debate about their parents' status and the validity of their citizenship. Immigration-enforcement hardliners call them "anchor babies" because they see them as their ticket to benefits and legal status for families. Immigrant advocates say that's too cynical a view.

A new analysis from the Pew Hispanic Center, a research organization in Washington, D.C., finds that unauthorized immigrants are having babies in the U.S. at a higher rate than the general population.

"When you look at the characteristics of the [immigrant] group, you see it's a younger population, and that means more of them are in child-bearing ages. We know more of them are likely to be married, and there's a lot of evidence that their fertility rates are higher," said study co-author Jeffrey Passel, a demographer.

Children of illegal immigrants accounted for 340,000 out of the 4.3 million babies born in 2008, the latest year for which figures were available, and they now add up to an estimated 4 million Americans, according to the Pew analysis of census and other migration data. That's nearly 1 of every 13 Americans born in 2008. The children of illegal immigrants accounted for 8 percent of all babies, even though those immigrants are about 4 percent of the adult population.

Some are calling for repeal of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution to take away birthright citizenship from those children.

"The first time I heard that, I was on my way to work and that just broke my heart and made me sick to my stomach," Brenda said. "All the time my mother has told me go to school, make something of yourself and you will be able to have a better life. But they want to take that away."

Steven Camarota, research director of the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington, D.C., which calls for lower immigration levels, thinks that curtailing illegal immigration overall would be the best way to address the children's impact, but he said there are practical reasons why pro-enforcement advocates focus on the children.

"These children are immediately eligible for every single social program, and it matters because illegal immigrants tend to be quite poor," Camarota said. "There is a fiscal issue that matters when it comes to eligibility to everything from food stamps to Medicaid."

Subhash Kateel, a community organizer with the Florida Immigrant Coalition in Miami, said the figures could be used to make exactly the opposite argument: Immigrants are here to stay and have grown deep roots in American society. Their children are the future nurses, police officers, teachers and engineers, he said.

"They are people who have been here for years and are part of the community," Kateel said. "The discussion of taking away citizenship is unconstitutional, un-American and flat-out racist."

Sister Ann Kendrick, a Roman Catholic nun with the Hope CommUnity Center in Apopka, said the discussion about immigrants' children is just a sign of how extreme the debate has become.

"I don't know of anybody in all my years here who came to just have a baby," Kendrick said. "People come here desperate because they need something better for their family and they want to have a job and they want their kids to go to school and they want good things for their families."

VÃ*ctor Manuel Ramos can be reached at vramos@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-6186.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/loc ... 8654.story

"People come here desperate because they need something better for their family and they want to have a job and they want their kids to go to school and they want good things for their families."

Yeah , just so American taxpayers foot the bill

Enough , kick out all these leechs and their bogus "not real citizen" spawn

I'm sick to death of paying for them

Subhash Kateel, a community organizer with the Florida Immigrant Coalition in Miami, said the figures could be used to make exactly the opposite argument: Immigrants are here to stay and have grown deep roots in American society. Their children are the future nurses, police officers, teachers and engineers, he said.

For every teacher or engineer there are 10 gang members, welfare cases, and Reconquistas.

"All the time my mother has told me go to school, make something of yourself and you will be able to have a better life. But they want to take that away."

And if your mother told you to rob a bank so you could have a better life, would that be legal as well? Didn't anyone tell you your mother broke the law repeatedly.

"When you look at the characteristics of the [immigrant] group, you see it's a younger population, and that means more of them are in child-bearing ages. We know more of them are likely to be married, and there's a lot of evidence that their fertility rates are higher," said study co-author Jeffrey Passel, a demographer.

They also tend to be of a sect that has the mandate of "go forth and multiply" that is so extreme that birth control of any kind is considered a criminal abomination within that sect, even to the point of disregarding the health of the mother via crisis or simply "being used up" through too many pregnancies too fast. Combine this mentality with the stated desire to "re-claim" so much of the sovereign nation they trespass into (making it invasion as opposed to just trespass), a desire openly stated by many, and there is a real problem. When you toss entitlement sentiments and expectations into the blender... Well, there goes the unfettered population boom, the law, and the budget.

The United States of America cannot endure this, should not accept this, and must assert it's sovereignty.

There's a simple solution. Take away all freebies for illegal aliens, especially free labor & delivery services and see the birth rates drop. They won't have as many kids if they have to pay for labor and delivery themselves. STOP giving it away!!!

If illegal alien women are getting free labor and delivery, then all American women (legal) shouldn't have to worry about carrying insurance to pay for same services.

If I had known about this scam years ago, I would have had more than 2 kids!!

If I had known about this scam years ago, I would have had more than 2 kids!!

When I had my third child I thought I had a large family for the times we're in. After the invasion arrived in my town I realized that having three kids is now considered a small family.

Analysis of data collected by Census Bureau in 2002 shows that women from the top-10 immigrant- sending countries living in the United States collectively tend to have higher fertility than women in their home countries. As a group, immigrants from these countries have 23 percent more children than women in their home countries, adding to world population growth. Among the findings:

In 2002, immigrant women (legal and illegal) from the top-10 immigrant-sending countries had 2.9 children on average, compared to a fertility rate of 2.3 children in their home countries -- a 23-percent difference.

Among Mexican immigrants in the United States, for example, fertility averages 3.5 children per woman compared to 2.4 children per women in Mexico. Among Chinese immigrants, fertility is 2.3 in the United States compared to 1.7 in China. Immigrants from Canada have 1.9 children compared to 1.5 children in Canada.


http://www.cis.org/articles/2005/back1105.html

Once they get here they have a higher birthrate than they had at home. I'd be willing to bet it's related to the welfare money they can get for each anchor baby.

The main issue with immigrants from South America isn't illegal immigrants. I am not races for saying this but rather being objective. The issues are:
- The most important one is the high reproductive rate. They have kids as soon as they get out of high school or sometimes before that and they have 3 to 5 kids so by the time they are 40's, they already become grandparents while most other races get married in their late 30's.
- Most of them don't have good education so they don't pay enough taxes compared to the benefits their children receive such as medical, school grants, etc...

The irony is that they come to America for a better life but if this trend continues, their children and grand children won't have that because America is just like their own poor countries in the South. If they can limit number of kids they have and not having kids too early so they can build a career and better family for themselves then there will be hope for their