Thread: Migrants rarely come to U.S. just to give birth, experts say

Migrants rarely come to U.S. just to give birth, experts say
Research points to reasons other than citizenship, as critics charge
by Bob Christie and Paul J. Weber - Sept. 5, 2010 12:00 AM
Associated Press
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SAN JUAN, Texas - When Ruth Garcia's twins are born in two months, they'll have all the rights of U.S. citizens. They and their six brothers and sisters will be able to vote, apply for federal student loans and even run for president.

Garcia is an illegal immigrant who crossed into the country about 14 years ago, before her children were born, and the citizenship granted to her children and millions others like them is at the center of a divisive national debate.


Republicans are pushing for congressional hearings to consider changing the nation's 14th Amendment to deny such children the automatic citizenship the Constitution guarantees. They say women like Garcia are taking advantage of the constitutional amendment and paint a picture of pregnant women rushing across the border to give birth.

While a recent Pew Hispanic Center study shows 8 percent of the 4.3 million babies born in the U.S. in 2008 had at least one illegal parent, a closer examination shows that most children of illegal immigrants are born to parents like Garcia who have made the United States their home for years.

Out of 340,000 babies born to illegal immigrants in the United States in 2008, 85 percent of the parents had been in the country for more than a year, and more than half for at least five years, Jeffrey Passel, a senior demographer for Pew, told the Associated Press.

And immigration experts say it's extraordinarily rare for immigrants to come to the U.S. just so they can have babies and get citizenship. In most cases, they come for economic reasons and better hospitals, and they end up staying and raising families.

Garcia's husband has been deported, and she earns a living selling tamales to other immigrants who live in fear of being deported from the slapdash, impoverished colonias that dot the Texas-Mexico border.

"I think that children aren't at fault for having been born here," Garcia said. "My children always have lived here. They've never gone to another country."

Under current immigration law, Garcia and others like her don't get U.S. citizenship even though their children are Americans.

With an estimated 11.1 million illegal immigrants living in the United States, the issue strikes a chord with many voters - people like retired Air Force nurse and pediatric nurse practitioner Susan Struck, 66, of Double Adobe, Ariz.

"People come over ... and they have babies with U.S. birth certificates, then they go back over the border with that Social Security number, with that birth certificate," and have access to public services, she said at a recent event near the border organized by conservative "tea party" activists.

Several prominent Republican leaders share Struck's beliefs on the issue. Sen. Lindsey Graham, S.C., has been a vocal advocate for changing the Constitution, and he helped the issue gain momentum heading into the midterm elections.

"Women have traveled from across the world for the purpose of adding a U.S. passport-holder to their family, as far away as China, Turkey and as close as Mexico," said Jon Feere, legal analyst for the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for strict immigration laws.

Still, changing the Constitution is highly unlikely, legal scholars say. Measures have been introduced in each two-year congressional session since 2005, but none has made it out of committee. Constitutional changes require approval by two-thirds majorities in both chambers of Congress, an impossibility now because Democrats have the majority in both houses and most oppose such a measure.

Even if Republicans gain power in November and legislation is passed, an amendment would still need to be ratified by three-fourths of the states.

To be sure, some pregnant Mexican women do come to the United States. In border cities such as Nogales, Ariz., women have been coming to the U.S. for decades to give birth, though the primary reason is better medical care, Santa Cruz County Sheriff Tony Estrada said. Billboards advertising birthing services in Arizona line streets across the border in Nogales, Sonora.

Tucson Medical Center offers packages designed to provide inclusive care to new mothers. The program draws some residents of Sonora who can afford its upfront costs and already have U.S. visas, spokesman Michael Letson said.

Princeton University demographer Douglas Massey said in 30 years studying Mexican immigration, he's never interviewed a migrant who said they came to the United States just to get citizenship for their children.

"Mexicans do not come to have babies in the United States," said Massey, who blames the tightening of the border in the 1990s for cutting off normal migration of men who used to come to work for a year or two and then go home. "They end up having babies in the United States because men can no longer circulate freely back and forth from homes in Mexico to jobs in the United States, and husbands and wives quite understandably want to be together."

More common, he and other experts say, are families stuck with one child who is legal and others who aren't - like Beatriz Gomez, a 35-year-old illegal immigrant who came to Phoenix 11 years ago on a now-expired tourist visa from Arriaga in the Mexican state of Chiapas.

Her 12-year-old daughter was born in Mexico and is here illegally, but her two youngest children, ages 5 and 8, were born in the U.S. and are citizens.

"It's sad," Gomez said of her oldest daughter, who was only 1 when the family came to the United States and won't qualify for benefits such as in-state college tuition rates or federal student loans. "She studies hard, and she won't be able to go to a university like the other two."



Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/ ... z0yggfhi9E

And immigration experts say it's extraordinarily rare for immigrants to come to the U.S. just so they can have babies and get citizenship. In most cases, they come for economic reasons and better hospitals, and they end up staying and raising families.

Garcia's husband has been deported, and she earns a living selling tamales to other immigrants who live in fear of being deported from the slapdash, impoverished colonias that dot the Texas-Mexico border.

What utter bullcrap! Each of those anchors is a cash cow for these illegals and they all know it. How else would she be able to support 8 anchors by selling tamales, hmm??

Does anyone know what how much each child in Texas gets in welfare/WIC $$$$?

I Really do HATE Liars...They know full well that Illegals are going through great lengths to drop their anchor babies here. Look how hard they are trying to defend Birthright Citizenship. You KNOW it means a lot to the left , to mexico, and to illegal alien invaders to protect BRC...

While a recent Pew Hispanic Center study shows 8 percent of the 4.3 million babies born in the U.S. in 2008 had at least one illegal parent, a closer examination shows that most children of illegal immigrants are born to parents like Garcia who have made the United States their home for years.

It sounds to me like they got their research material from LaRaza, LULAC and MecHa. Sort of like Homeland security got theirs from the SPLC.

Migrants rarely come to U.S. just to give birth, experts say

Good...then they won't mind if their anchor babies no longer receive automatic citizenship upon birth!

Originally Posted by NoBueno

Migrants rarely come to U.S. just to give birth, experts say

Good...then they won't mind if their anchor babies no longer receive automatic citizenship upon birth!

Truth be told!

come tax time they get 1,000 Dollar for each kid that why they have so many kids & the gov just hand if over well I think hi time they stop we american pay for this

the only thing that have to be change is the 14 amendment & as for the the illigal immigrant that came year ago . & go back home & think that they ar eCitizen think again you show Me you Birth Certificatie Of what hospital you were born in if it say another country Be side ( USA you are Not a CItizen . ) I don't care how many time you come over you are not a American Citizen Of the USA No Citizen Ships for Baby & Illigal Immigrant go home you have Our country a Mess

DON'T THE GOVENMENT STOP MAKING PAYMENTS OF WELFARE CHECKS TO AMERICAN CITIZENS AFTER THE BIRTH OF 2 CHILDREN I THINK I'M RIGHT ON THIS, SO WHY ARE THEY ALLOWED TO HAVE MORE THAN 2 JACKPOT (AS THEY ARE CALLED IN MEXICO) AND RECEIVE MONEY FOR EACH ONE OF THEM WHATS GOING ON IN THIS COUNTRY IS WRONG, AND THE FEDS KNOW IT. OUR TAX DOLLARS ARE TAKING CARE OF PEOPLE WHO HAVE NO BUSINESS BEING IN THE COUNTRY IN THE FIRST PLACE. AND IF THEY ARE NOT RECEIVING WHAT THEY THINK THEY SHOULD BE RECEIVING, THEN THEY START MARCHING IN THE STREETS WHICH THEY HAVE NO RIGHT TO AMERICAN CITIZENS GO LACKING WHILE ILLEGALS ARE BEING TAKEN CARE OF. SHAME ON THE U.S. GOVERNMENT

so i guess the two writers do not know about the Birth Hotel in NYC