Why do we grant automatic citizenship to a baby born to an illegal alien? Once born, that baby grants their family immediate access to government programs...free medical care...free food...free housing...
WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE??
The following excerpt is from an article written by Daneen G. Peterson, Ph. D., outlining the extreme burdens that are being placed on our hospitals, our health, and our healthcare system...
Anchor Babies and Automatic Citizenship:
The Federation for Immigration Reform, (FAIR) "estimated there are currently between 287,000 and 363,000 children born to illegal aliens each year."(24) These children, born to illegal aliens, are called 'anchor babies' because they become 'automatic' American citizens who are now 'anchored' to the United States. As such, they instantly gain access to public benefits, usually Medicaid and SSI, causing enormous rises in the costs to those programs. At age 21, they also have the right to petition our government to bring their families and other relatives to the United States.
Christine Romans on the Lou Dobbs program stated that: "Illegal aliens are eligible for federal funds for prenatal care and childbirth . . . " "Benefits like welfare, food stamps, school lunch programs. And, free education. For example, an illegal couple in California with two anchor babies can get as much as $12,000 in public benefits." "In Arizona, at the Maricopa County Medical Center, an anchor baby is born every three hours. Two out of three births are to illegal aliens, 2,900 each year. It's a huge part of the $28 million overall spent treating illegal aliens at just one hospital."(25) When was the last time your wife, sister, daughter or any other family members received FREE prenatal care and delivery? Illegal aliens, expect to, and get, what you and your family cannot, and to add 'insult to injury,' their babies are paid for by YOU!
According to the Washington Post: "In July 2004, Hispanics numbered 41.3 million out of a [United States official] national population of nearly 293.7 million. . . . In the 1990s they accounted for 40 percent of the country's population increase. From 2000 to 2004, that figure grew to 49 percent." That figure probably does not include the 18-20 million illegals living here now, nor any of those that will continue to pour over our southern border, unchecked by our government. The Washington Post also reports that "new [legal] immigrants are now outnumbered by babies born in the United States . . . and: One in five children under 18 is Hispanic, according to the census figures. However, given the fact that the Census Bureau uses outdated methodologies to collect their data and routinely under-estimates their figures, the TRUE figures may be even higher!(26)
Harry P. Pachon, president of the Tomas Rivera Policy Institute, a California think tank states that: "There are more Hispanics in Cook County, Chicago, than in Arizona or Colorado or New Mexico."(27)
William H. Frey, visiting fellow at the Brookings Institute stated that: "Fifteen counties in the United States reported having more than half of all births to an immigrant mom. The leader [of the pack] was the borough of Queens, in New York City, with 67.7 percent. Other top homes to second-generation Americans included Los Angeles, with 56.3 percent, Miami-Dade County, with 58.9 percent, and Orange County, Calif., with 54.3 percent." "The greatest changes in recent years have come in places like Gwinnett County, Ga., a part of metropolitan Atlanta that has seen its Hispanic population soar over the past decade. In 1990, about 9.3 percent of all children born in the county had a mother born outside the United States. By 2002, [in just 12 years] that number had jumped to 41.3 percent."(28)
According to Dr. Cosman: "In 2003 in Stockton, California, 70 percent of the 2,300 babies born in San Joaquin General Hospital's maternity ward were anchor babies . . . [and] in 1994, 74,987 anchor babies [were born] in California . . . [and] constituted 36 percent of all Medi-Cal births [California State Insurance]. Now they account for substantially more than half."(18)
There are some in the U.S. Congress who have tried repeatedly to pass a simple amendment to the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1102). That same bill, has been re-introduced in the 109th Congress as H. R. 698. The express purpose of the bill is "to deny automatic citizenship at birth to children born in the United States to parents who are not citizens or permanent resident aliens."(29) Simple and straightforward, isn't it? One more thing . . . it is interesting to note that NONE of the countries in the European Union provides 'birthright citizenship' to illegal aliens. The last to end the practice was Ireland, in 2004. Oh, by the way . . . Mexico does NOT grant automatic citizenship to its illegal aliens! Why do we?
As you may know . . . if H. R. 698 is ever passed into legislation and signed by the president, it will most certainly be challenged in the courts. The issue will revolve around the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution. The prior court rulings, that gave illegal aliens the 'birthright citizenship' for their babies, was another example of 'legislating from the bench.' A well reasoned, and historically based, argument to that court decision can be found here: (30)
You really should read the entire article...it is long, but it is something we should be having a discussion about...instead of discussing or trying to define who we should call a terrorist...
DR
