Thread: Birthright Citizenship = major problems Dallas/Ft.Worth

Birthright citizenship debate has major implications for DFW
By Alex Branch

abranch@star-telegram.com

FORT WORTH -- The roiling national debate over whether to stop granting automatic citizenship for babies born in the U.S. to illegal immigrants reverberates loudly across Tarrant County.

Nearly three-quarters of the 7,000 babies born annually at John Peter Smith Hospital are delivered to the undocumented. The county hospital ranks third among Texas facilities for such births.

The possibility -- no matter how remote -- of losing the birthright granted by the 14th Amendment is alarming to the millions of immigrants in families that have taken advantage of birthright citizenship for more than a century.

"For children who are born here, this is their country; it's all they know," said the Rev. Stephen Jasso, pastor of All Saints Catholic Church in north Fort Worth, who has lobbied for immigrant rights. "They're going to school here, coming to church on Sundays here, learning to be leaders here."

Opponents of birthright citizenship say it contributes to the immigration problem by giving people an incentive to come to the U.S. illegally and makes them more likely to stay once they have children.

Some groups have pushed to end the practice, but elected officials viewed it largely as a fringe movement. Reports about pregnant women paying to travel to the U.S. to give birth and about the threat of "terror babies" have pushed the conversation to the forefront in recent months.

Republicans, including Texas Sen. John Cornyn, have called for hearings to evaluate whether changes are possible or needed.

The issue is likely to come up in the legislative session beginning in January, when lawmakers are expected to file bills to prohibit Texas hospitals from issuing birth certificates to the babies of illegal immigrants.

"We cheapen the value of our citizenships, particularly when we give them away to people who are committing a crime against the United States," said state Rep. Leo Berman, R-Tyler, who says he intends to file such a bill. "We have people attracted to come to the United States because they know they can get citizenship."

Others see political posturing fanning public fears.

"Unfortunately, election year rhetoric brings out the worst in some people," said Lon Burnam, D-Fort Worth. "The American people are better than that. I'm appalled by the notion of repealing one of the keystone amendments to the civil-rights movement in this country."

Some experts on immigration note that the push to change birthrights has gone nowhere in recent history and that the odds against a constitutional change are staggering. Since 1789, the Constitution has been amended only 27 times.

And larger issues are more deserving of state and national lawmakers' time, some experts say.

"This is all a distraction from a serious debate on comprehensive immigration reform," said Anna Law, an associate professor at DePaul University who published the book The Immigration Battle in American Courts. "Birthright citizenship is not the main reason for illegal immigration, and [ending it] is not going to happen."

Big cost to Texas

Statistics show why the debate hits home in Texas.

About 340,000 of the 4.3 million babies born in the U.S. in 2008 had at least one parent who was an illegal immigrant, the Pew Hispanic Center recently reported.

About 19 percent of those babies are born in Texas, where the number born to noncitizens annually has grown from about 45,000 in 2001 to about 63,000 in 2009, according to the state.

Only Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas and the Harris County Hospital District in Houston deliver more babies to the undocumented, the Texas Department of State Health Services says.

At JPS, immigration status has no bearing on whether an expectant mother receives care, CEO Robert Earley said. Under federal law, no one can be denied emergency care.

"Delivering a child is considered an emergency," Earley said. "No one who comes to our hospital to have a child is turned away."

JPS officials estimated the total cost of those births over an eight-month period in 2009 and 2010 at $7 million.

Taxpayers pay for those deliveries. The public hospital received about $5 million in state Medicaid reimbursements during that eight-month period, and JPS spent an additional $2 million out of its budget.

Providing medical care, which would include deliveries, and incarceration for illegal immigrants cost the state $250 million last year, the state announced last week.

Defenders of birthright citizenship say the sheer number of kids born in the U.S. to undocumented parents is evidence that ending the practice would make the immigration problem worse.

"Let's get serious. This will not solve any problems at all," said Douglas Interiano, executive director for Proyecto Inmigrante ICS, a Fort Worth organization that practices immigration law.

"If they are looking to stop illegal immigration, what this will really do is create more undocumented immigrants, because now you have all these children. They are creating another problem onto the one that we already have," he said.

Lured by jobs

How much birthright citizenship plays a role in luring illegal immigrants to the U.S. is a source of disagreement. But most immigration experts agree that the biggest draw by far is the prospect of employment.

The Pew Report found that more than 80 percent of mothers in the country illegally had been here for more than a year, and more than half were in the U.S. for at least five years.

Roy Beck, president of NumbersUSA, one of the leading organizations pushing to end birthright citizenship, said that even he considers it only a "minor" draw.

But he calls it "a significant anchor" in keeping immigrants here.

"Illegal aliens overwhelmingly come here to get a job," he said. "Once they have citizen children here, they feel much more like they have a legitimate reason to stay."

When authorities come across illegal immigrants with children who are citizens, they are less likely to pursue deportation, he said, "and that is one of our biggest concerns."



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Simple solution to the problem. Quit issuing birth certs to those illegally in the country. Give them a cert of live birth and nothing else stating that the mother is NOT a citizen. A few states have considered the idea. I'd support such legislation in my state!!

Illegals might overwhelmingly come here to get a job, but they overwhelmingly bring their illegal alien families with them as they know working Americans will provide for their women and kids.

the millions of immigrants in families that have taken advantage of birthright citizenship

Taken advantage is exactly right. They take advantage of every benefit their anchor baby can possibly provide for them and they take advantage of the generosity of the American people.

Nearly three-quarters of the 7,000 babies born annually at John Peter Smith Hospital are delivered to the undocumented. The county hospital ranks third among Texas facilities for such births.

The possibility -- no matter how remote -- of losing the birthright granted by the 14th Amendment is alarming to the millions of immigrants in families that have taken advantage of birthright citizenship for more than a century.

This is sickening! Too bad there's not an ICE substation at every emergency room across this country. Instead of paying for their anchor babies, we could be sending their @$$e$ back to where they belong!

We're being invaded and our financial well being looted to pay for these criminals! When does the madness end?