Anchor babies, Anchors away?

How do you feel about birthright citizenship? That’s when any child born on US soil or in its territories except American Samoa is automatically a citizen They are called “anchor babies”. Why American Samoa is excluded is beyond me. Trump has made it a big deal. Is it? Well Trump signed an executive order ending it claiming he had the authority to do so even though birthright citizenship stems from the 14^thAmendment. He was promptly sued by 22 democrat AGs. So apparently the democrats favor the amendment and having thousands of newborns from noncitizen mothers in the country. Why? I haven’t a clue. I thought the dems wanted unlimited abortions. I guess its ok for illegals to carry babies to term.

The case was expedited and heard by a Federal judge appointed by Reagan who promptly declared Trump’s order to be blatantly unconstitutional. The judge was obviously unhappy that the case was even on the docket. He told Trump’s attorney “I have difficulty understanding how a member of the bar could state unequivocally that this is a constitutional order. It boggles my mind.” Apparently the judge did not look kindly upon the order.

Again the issue involves the language of the amendment.  It is:

“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. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

The phrase “and subject to the jurisdiction thereof” is what motivates those who want to deny birthright citizenship. I am not an attorney – thank goodness – but it seems to me that the issue involves whether the mother is in the country legally. Although some accounts say that they want birthright ended for all children born to illegals this need seem to be the case to me. All that is required in that the mothers not be citizens. For instance, Nikki Haley was born in the United States to noncitizen immigrant parents from India. Should she have been denied citizenship? 

Also the term “birth tourism” is used for those mothers who legally travel to the United States to give birth. For instance, am estimated 50,000 Chinese women come to the US every year to give birth. There are Chinese travel agencies that specialize in arranging every detail for the parents. There are also agencies that cater to Russians as well. Most of the parents do not plan to apply for citizenship themselves but want to provide options available to their children.

Although Trump contends that the United States is the only country to grant birthright citizenship, actually 33 countries do so. But only the United States and Canada are the developed countries that grant it. Incidentally, Ted Cruz was born in Canada and has Canadian citizenship. Does that mean that Cruz cannot run for president even though Haley could?

The 14^th Amendment in 1868 granted citizenship to the freed slaves. The question is how many children are we talking about? There is one set of data that say around 25 percent of all births are to aliens. But these data include mothers in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. The data also include mothers in the country legally who are not citizens. Excluding those mothers the estimates are that births to illegal aliens is around 7 percent of total births or around 300,000 a year. It is important to note that the birth of the child only conveys citizenship to the child and not to its parents. The number of birthright children currently residing in the United States is around 13 million. Seriously, do these children somehow impose a threat to the security of the country? Do they grow up to be criminals or exemplary citizens or something in between like most of us?

The US birthrate is falling with only 3.6 million babies born in 2023. I presume this number includes the 300,000 or so birthright babies. Those babies born to tourists will leave the country with their mothers. The ones born to illegal immigrants will remain. If the parents are to be deported, it is rare for the deportation to be canceled due to an anchor baby. Questions arise as to whether illegal immigration and anchor babies will have a net benefit to the country given the falling birthrate. Many if not most of the immigrants are more driven by the American dream than many native born residents. These immigrants must be enculturated into Americans and not be isolated like many are in other countries. Second generation immigrants speak English, marry outside their immigrant group and pursue the American dream.

What about welfare? Only U.S. citizens and certain lawfully present non-citizens may receive food stamps (SNAP) benefits. Food stamps are not and never have been available to undocumented non-citizens. Non-citizens like tourists and students are generally not eligible. Non-citizens who are eligible based on their immigration status must meet SNAP eligibility requirements, such as income and resource limits, and may also need to meet a waiting period. Apparently illegals are not a drain on the welfare system.

So as Stevie Wonder says “What the Fuss?”