No doubt in part to the poor economy, birthright citizenship has become a target for lawmakers.
Lawmakers in at least 14 states have said they are committed to passing the legislation targeting birthright citizenship. Arizona’s anti-illegal-immigrant bill, SB-1070, was also based on model legislation that could be easily copied by states, and at least seven states are likely to pass bills similar to the first Arizona immigration overhaul this year, according to one analysis by an immigrants rights group.
It is argued that the 14th Amendment was intended to cover freed slaves. In the 19th century the Supreme Court found that the Amendment also covered the children immigrants but SCOTUS has not dealt with the children of those who have violated the law in breaking into this country illegally.
It is estimated that as many as 8% of the births in the US are to illegal alien parents.
According to the Pew Hispanic Center, approximately 340,000 of the 4.3 million babies born in the United States in 2008 were the children of illegal aliens, many of whom emanate from Mexico. The study which was released yesterday comes as more and more Americans are showing concern over illegal aliens entering the U.S. and garnering a treasure-trove of benefits such as free education, health care, and other social programs. Some conservative lawmakers wish to amend the 14th Amendment from which the court have derived the concept of “anchor babies.”
And some of those births are costly:
It was 5 a.m. and CBS News national correspondent Byron Pitts is with a woman who is nine months pregnant. She’s rushed to a south Texas hospital to undergo a C-section – a $4,700 medical procedure that won’t cost her a dime. She qualifies for emergency Medicaid.
The Rand Corporation estimated that health care for illegals cost $1.1 billion in 2008.
In 2004 the overall net cost (i.e. loss) of illegals to this country’s economy was estimated to be over $10 billion.
“Households headed by illegal aliens imposed more than $26.3 billion in costs on the federal government in 2002 and paid only $16 billion in taxes, creating a net fiscal deficit of $10.4 billion, or $2,700 per illegal household,” said Steven A. Camarota, author of the study.
And that was expected to triple if amnesty was granted.
Just who offers birthright citizenship today?
In the “developed countries” birthright citizenship is offered by only the United States and Canada. In the “other” column (presumably undeveloped or underdeveloped) many countries are listed as offering birthright citizenship.
The 14th Amendment does not speak to children of illegal aliens. Birthright citizenship was last considered by the Supreme Court before there were such things as Social Security and welfare. Do away with them and the argument becomes moot. Otherwise, financial considerations cannot be ignored. It’s costly to bear this burden and this country cannot afford frivolities any longer.
DrJohn has been a health care professional for more than 30 years. In addition to clinical practice he has done extensive research and has published widely with over 70 original articles and abstracts in the peer-reviewed literature. DrJohn is well known in his field and has lectured on every continent except for Antarctica. He has been married to the same wonderful lady for over 30 years and has three kids- two sons, both of whom are attorneys and one daughter on her way into the field of education.
DrJohn was brought up with the concept that one can do well if one is prepared to work hard but nothing in life is guaranteed.
Except for liberals being foolish.
