Anchor Babies - Back Door to Citizenship for Illegals

After a long trek from central Mexico she reaches the U.S. border at night. Nine months pregnant, she crosses the border illegally & finds her way to a friend's house in a border town in Texas. She is in America. A week later she gives birth at the local hospital. The newborn child is legally an American citizen. With this citizenship, mother & child are entitled to welfare, foods stamps & other support services that an American is eligible for. Having an American citizen as a child, she is secure in the knowledge that she will never be deported. When her child reaches adulthood, that child, under the Family Reunification law, can apply for residency for the mother & any family members back in Mexico. When those members arrive they in time can sponsor their other family members for residency in the U.S. And when they arrive they can sponsor additional members & so on & so on. This is called chain migration. The newborn has "anchored" the extended family to the U.S. & to residency or citizenship.

Anchor babies are quickly becoming the modus operandi of illegal aliens to establish themselves in the U.S. It is estimated 500,000 anchor babies are born in the U.S. each year. One California hospital reported that of 6,500 births, 70% were to illegal aliens.

But anchor babies are not just the domain of illegal aliens. People from other nations come here on tourist visas in their 9th month of pregnancy for the express purpose of giving birth in the U.S. so that they have a U.S. citizen as an anchor baby. In Korea there are travel agencies that arrange travel for pregnant Koreans to the U.S. for the express puropse of birthing a U.S. "citizen". Business is booming.

The shame is not on these illegals or tourists. They are only taking advantage of a technicality. The shame is on Congress & misinterpretation of the 14th Amendment. This amendment, in part, states, "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside".

The strict intent of the 14th Amendment, made law after the Civil War, was to give & guarantee citizenship to former black slaves. However, since then the U.S. government has played fast & loose with interpretation. Thus, a child born one minute after it's mother illegally crosses the border is a "citizen". But illegal aliens & tourists are not "subject to the jurisdiction thereof." They are subject to the jurisdiction of the country they came from.

Ireland had the same type of problem. But the incredible number of immigrants to Ireland claiming Irish citizenship for their newborns led Ireland to changing the law & giving Irish citizenship only to those with Irish citizen parents.

It is beyond time for Congress to go back to the original intent of the 14th Amendment & kill the golden goose of anchor babies for illegals & "tourists". The 14th Amendment needs to be amended to end this loophole. But Congress will not do this. They have neither the will or guts & political correctness will stop them in their tracks. Instead, the taxpayer will continue to be burdened even more, the country's population will continue to explode as the influx of our new "citizens" grows & grows. It is an anchor around our country's neck.