BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP Is The Biggest Problem In Immigration Policy

Eminent legal scholars and jurists, including Professor Peter Schuck of Yale Law School and U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Richard Posner, have questioned whether the 14th Amendment should be read to mandate such a permissive citizenship policy. Nevertheless, the practice has become the de facto law of the land without any input from Congress or the American public. “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.”
-- U.S. Const. amend. XIV, § 1

In 2010, there were 4.5 million U.S.-born children whose parents were illegal. http://www.pewhispanic.org/2013/01/29/a-nation-of-immigrants/

• Nearly 200,000 children are born annually "to foreign women admitted as visitors, that is, tourists, students, guest workers, and other non-immigrant categories." http://cis.org/birthright-citizenship-for-visitors

• 8% of all U.S. births (approximately 350,000 a year) come from at least one illegal-alien parent. http://www.pewhispanic.org/2011/02/01/unauthorized-immigrant-population-brnational-and-state-trends-2010/

• As of March 2010, 11.2 million unauthorized immigrants were living in the United States. http://www.pewhispanic.org/2011/02/01/unauthorized-immigrant-population-brnational-and-state-trends-2010/

• The population of U.S.-born children with illegal alien parents has expanded rapidly in recent years from 2.7 million in 2003 to 4.5 million by 2010. http://www.pewhispanic.org/files/reports/107.pdf

• The population of U.S.-born children with illegal alien parents has expanded rapidly in recent years from 2.7 million in 2003 to 4.5 million by 2010. http://www.pewhispanic.org/files/reports/107.pdf

• As of 2010, four out of five children of illegal aliens residing in the U.S. were born here — some 4 million kids. http://www.pewhispanic.org/2010/08/11/unauthorized-immigrants-and-their-us-born-children/

• While illegal immigrants make up about 4%t of the adult population, “because they have high birthrates, their children make up a much larger share of both the newborn population (8%) and the child population (7%) in this country.” http://www.pewhispanic.org/2010/08/11/unauthorized-immigrants-and-their-us-born-children/

• At 18, an “anchor baby” can sponsor an overseas spouse and unmarried children of his own; at 21, he can sponsor parents and siblings.

Costs

• Illegal aliens can obtain welfare benefits such as Medicaid and food stamps on behalf of their U.S.-born children. Many of the welfare costs associated with illegal immigration, therefore, are due to the Executive Branch’s current interpretation of the 14th Amendment’s Citizenship Clause. http://cis.org/immigrant-welfare-use-2011

• Currently, 71% of illegal-alien headed households with children make use of at least one major welfare program. http://cis.org/immigrant-welfare-use-2011

• U.S.-born children of illegal aliens are entitled to American public schools, health care, and more, even though illegal-alien households rarely pay taxes. http://cis.org/immigrant-welfare-use-2011

• In 1994, 74,987 anchor babies in California hospital maternity units cost $215 million and constituted 36 percent of all Medi-Cal [California’s Medicaid program] births. Now [2005] they account for substantially more than half. http://www.jpands.org/vol10no1/cosman.pdf

Birth Tourism

• The number of birth tourists coming to the United States each year is very roughly around 35,000 to 36,000 people based on the limited governmental data available. http://www.cis.org/camarota/there-are-possibly-36000-birth-tourists-annually

• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that 896,363 women who gave birth in 2012 indicated that they were born outside of the United States. If only 2 or 3 percent of these births were to women who are engaging in birth tourism, it would mean the United States sees 18,000 to 27,000 births annually. http://www.cis.org/camarota/there-are-possibly-36000-birth-tourists-annually

• Birth tourists have defrauded hospitals and taxpayers by taking advantage of healthcare meant for the indigent. In one case, a birth tourist paid just $4,080 of a $28,845 hospital bill. Investigations revealed that their bank account had charges at Louis Vuitton, Rolex, and the Wynn Las Vegas Hotel. http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/03/03/california-chinese-birth-tourism-raids/24338087/

U.S. Compared to the World

• Of advanced economies, as rated by the International Monetary Fund, Canada and the United States are the only countries that grant automatic citizenship to children born to illegal aliens. http://cis.org/birthright-citizenship