Anchor Babies II

                When I read the headline “Jeb Bush:  Asians abusing US birthright citizenship,”  I passed over it because I thought he was simply trying to take Americans’ attention off the illegal immigrants entering the United States through the porous southern border.  Bush has clashed with other presidential candidates over the term “anchor babies,” believing it is a “derogatory description of children born in the United States to undocumented parents.”

                Bush was recently in Texas along the southern border and was questioned about whether or not his campaign would suffer with Hispanics over his use of the term “anchor babies.”  He replied, “What I was talking about was the specific case of fraud being committed where there’s organized efforts – and frankly it’s more related to Asian people coming into our country, having children in that organized effort, taking advantage of a noble concept with birthright citizenship.”

                Bush does not believe he is using a derogatory term with the use of “anchor babies – the practice of people coming to the United States to have children born on United States soil and thus gaining citizenship.  This is why he spoke of immigrants other than Hispanics having “anchor babies.”

                Today I began reading articles about some of the other immigrants coming to America for the blessings of having a baby born on US soil.  This is an article about a couple from China that made the trip and paid $35,000 in order for their second child to be born in the United States to enhance its chances for education and other blessings not available in China.  Their child was one of thousands born here as estimates of Chinese tourists giving birth here range from 10,000 to 60,000 per year.

                Donald Trump appears to be correct when he says that our Fourteenth Amendment is a magnet for “anchor babies.”  This article is about the “very real economic costs of birthright citizenship.” “According to Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) legal policy analyst Jon Feere, who testified before the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security in April, between 350,000 and 400,000 children are born annually to an illegal-alien mother residing in the United States – as many as one in ten births nationwide.  As of 2010, four out of five children of illegal aliens residing in the U.S. were born here – some 4 million kids.  Reporting that finding, the Pew Research Center noted that, while illegal immigrants make up about 4 percent of the adult population, `because they have high birthrates, their children make up a much larger share of both the newborn population (8 percent) and the child population (7 percent) in this country.

                “The cost of this is not negligible.  Inflation-adjusted figures from the U.S. Department of Agriculture projected that a child born in 2013 would cost his parents $304,480 from birth to his eighteenth birthday.  Given that illegal-alien households are normally low-income households (three out of five illegal aliens and their U.S.-born children live at or near the poverty line), one would expect that a significant portion of that cost will fall on the government.  And that’s exactly what’s happening.  According to CIS, 71 percent of illegal-alien headed households with children received some sort of welfare in 2009, compared with 39 percent of native-headed houses with children.  Illegal immigrants generally access welfare programs through their U.S.-born children, to whom government assistance is guaranteed.  Additionally, U.S.-born children of illegal aliens are entitled to American public schools, health care, and more….

                “There are long-term costs, too.  U.S.-born children of illegal aliens can sponsor the immigration of family members once they come of age.  At 18, an `anchor baby’ can sponsor an overseas spouse and unmarried children of his own; at 21, he can sponsor parents and siblings.  There may be a long waiting period before that legal benefit is of use.  But it’s a fact that illegal aliens with American-born children are much less likely to be deported, and that policy has been effectively enshrined in law with President Obama’s Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA) policy, which would effectively grant amnesty to some 5 million illegal aliens, on top of the 2 to 3 million granted amnesty under his Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy.  (DAPA is currently under scrutiny in the courts.)”

                We can see from just these articles that birthright citizenship is a problem, and Trump is right about it being a magnet for illegal immigrants.  Our porous borders and lax enforcement of our immigration laws are allowing many of the “anchor babies” to be here, and our progressive judges and leaders on the federal level are allowing them to stay. 

                The deliberate deception of “anchor babies” is causing problems in our nation, problems that could be hiding even larger ones.  Americans have been lied to for so long that many of us believe the lies.  One of the biggest lies is that our Fourteenth Amendment gives citizenship to any child born in the United States.  This is not true.  The Fourteenth Amendment begins:  “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” (emphasis mine).

                People who come to the United States illegally or as tourists are not “subject to the jurisdiction thereof;” they are subject to the laws of their own nations, whether that be China, Mexico or wherever.  We must continue to share this truth until it overcomes the lies we are being fed.  Knowing the truth of the Fourteen Amendment can help reduce the numbers of  “anchor babies” in our midst, make jobs available for more Americans, and reduce the costs of our welfare programs.  It makes sense that our nation should take steps to reduce the numbers of “anchor babies” in every way we can.  The Donald is right on this one!