Lawmakers pushing to end citizenship birthright

[SPEtactical]

Lawmakers pushing to end citizenship birthright

By DAVE MONTGOMERY
Star-Telegram Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- Babies born to mothers living in the country illegally constituted nearly three-fourths of the births at Fort Worth's John Peter Smith Hospital this year and automatically became U.S. citizens under a constitutional birthright that some members of Congress want to cut off.

Of the 5,775 deliveries during fiscal year 2005, which ended Sept. 30, 4,207 -- about 73 percent -- were the children of mothers without immigration documents, hospital spokeswoman Drenda Witt said Tuesday. "It's a very large number for us," she said.

The practice of automatically granting citizenship to children born in the United States, even if their parents are here illegally, has been the law of the land since 1868. But as debate gears up this week on major immigration legislation in Congress, conservative Republicans are battling to change the automatic citizenship practice that came about under the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

The House Rules Committee is expected to decide today whether to allow consideration of the amendment when the full House of Representatives debates the measure on Thursday. House members are raising the possibility of adding more than 30 amendments, raising the chances that the debate could spill into Friday.

The emergence of the birthright issue adds another volatile ingredient to an already explosive debate, raising constitutional questions that could ultimately land in the U.S. Supreme Court.

The 14th Amendment was added to the Constitution three years after the Civil War ended to enable former slaves to become U.S. citizens. It 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."

Generations of immigrants have seized that guarantee over the past 137 years to secure citizenship for their children and plant roots in the United States. But with an estimated 11 million immigrants now living in the country illegally, a growing number of lawmakers, most of them Republicans, argue that the amendment was not intended to benefit those who broke the law to get here.

"It's an incredible magnet for illegal immigration," says Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., maintaining that many immigrants come to the United States to enable their children to be born "on American soil."

More than three-fourths of the illegal immigrants are from Mexico and other Latin American countries. Texas has 1.4 million illegal immigrants, second to California.

Tancredo and others who advocate denying automatic citizenship to children of illegal immigrants describe them as "anchor children," saying that their citizenship enables them to draw generations of family members into the country through family reunification provisions in U.S. immigration policy.

The Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington-based think tank advocating tougher restrictions on immigration, estimates that more than 380,000 such babies are born each year and now account for nearly one out of every 10 births in the United States.

Public hospitals like John Peter Smith in Tarrant County and Parkland Memorial in Dallas are disproportionately affected by the birthright debate because they have large caseloads of indigent patients, many of them undocumented. Witt said her survey of undocumented mothers did not determine ethnic background or country of origin, nor whether the father or other family members had legal documents to be in the United States.

Parkland officials did not immediately return a phone call seeking information, but officials have been quoted in The Dallas Morning News as saying that about 80 percent of the approximately 16,000 women who gave birth at Parkland in 2003 qualified for Medicaid funding reserved for undocumented mothers.

The large proportion of illegal-immigrant births at North Texas public hospitals parallels that of health care facilities in other states. An article in the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons estimates that "substantially more than half" the births in California were to undocumented mothers, costing the state hundreds of millions of dollars.

Witt did not have a cost estimate for the births at John Peter Smith but said the federal government reimbursed the hospital for the deliveries and partially reimbursed it for prenatal care. The hospital has "lots of full-time interpreters" to assist the mothers and hospital personnel, Witt said.

Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Flower Mound, said he's concerned about the strain the births are putting on the public hospitals. "Clearly, with the major indigent health care provider in Tarrant County reporting that nearly 4 out of 5 births in fiscal year 2005 were attributed to illegal immigrants; we have over taxed our system," Burgess, a physician, said in a prepared statement. "No one wants to turn mothers and babies away -- but we have to do a better job for citizens, legal immigrants, those who play by the rules."

At least 80 House members from 26 states are co-sponsoring a bill by Rep. Nathan Deal, R-Georgia, that would allow birthright citizenship only to U.S. citizens or permanent legal residents. Eleven Texas Republicans are co-sponsors, including Reps. Michael Burgess of Flower Mound, Kenny Marchant of Coppell, Sam Johnson of Plano and Pete Sessions of Dallas.

Todd Smith, Deal's deputy chief of staff, said the congressman hopes to persuade the House leadership to include his bill as an amendment. If not, Deal will make a renewed push to bring the measure before the House floor next year after Congress returns from the holiday recess, Smith said.

The bill's seemingly growing momentum has prompted criticism from immigrant advocates in Congress and elsewhere, who argue that it is unconstitutional and threatens the United States' open-arms image.

"You're talking about betraying the legacy of a nation whose very existence has been our ability to assimilate immigrants," said Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-El Paso. "I think there would be consequences we probably haven't realized."

[KaiGywer]

I agree. If your parents are here illegally, then you should not get citizenship. I don't see why it is so hard to understand for the illegals. I came to this country legally, and I had to jump thru hoops to get permanent residency. In a few years, I have to jump thru more hoops to be naturalized. Now, if I'm willing to go thru this, why shouldn't these people do it as well?

[Manxman]

I'd love to have the citizenship that these kids are getting. It isn't going to happen though.

[Scruit]

You should only get citizenship at birth if at least one of your parents is a Citizen.

[BlueGoose]

I don't see why it is so hard to understand for the illegals.

I think it's that pesky 14th Amendment. ;) (And it's not only the illegals that question this proposal ...)

There are other LEGAL ways to prevent the problem of "anchor babies" without passing unconstitutional laws. The Republican leadership in the House killed this proposal, and it should stay killed.