An immigration raid on Houston's east side leaves some open-ended questions about the status of pregnant illegal immigrants.
By KTRH's John Labus
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
More than 70 women rounded up in last month's raid on Action Rags USA were released for humanitarian reasons, including as many as a dozen pregnant women.

Immigration attorney Charles Foster says if those women give birth while they're here, the law is pretty clear cut. "The status of the children is very simple; if the children are born in the United States, irrespective of the status of their parents, then they are a US citizen under the Constitution of the United States, specifically the 14th Amendment."

Foster says it's a common misconception that the child's citizenship will allow the mother to stay in the US. William Gheen with the political action committee Americans for Legal Immigration says the law needs to be changed. "America and Spain are the only two countries left in the world that have birthright citizenship. And that is something that our organization and many others would like to see changed because of its wild and flagrant abuse by illegal aliens."

Gheen believes illegal immigrants are giving birth in the US so they can stay here, bring other relatives into the country, and take advantage of our welfare laws. But Foster says that's not true, adding that most of these women who are deported will take their children back to their home countries.

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