Peter and Ellie Yang paid more than a hospital bill to have their second child, they paid $35,000 to have their baby in the United States. And the Yangs are far from alone.
The Chinese government estimates that 10,000 Chinese couples had children in the U.S. in 2012, while other estimates say that number is as high as 60,000.
Benjamin Carlson of Rolling Stone recently exposed the truth behind “tourist births” in the United States in his article. He confirmed Republican frontrunner Donald Trump’s position that foreigners were using the U.S. policy of birthright citizenship as a magnet to ensure their children had American citizenship.
China isn’t the only nation taking advantage of America’s policy. According to Jon Feere, a legal policy analyst at the Center for Immigration Studies, between 350,000 and 400,000 children are born annually to an illegal alien mother residing in the U.S.
As of 2010, an estimated four million anchor babies — 80 percent of all children of illegal aliens living in the U.S. — had received birthright citizenship.
Pew Research reported that while illegal immigrants make up an estimated four percent of the adult population, they make up nearly eight percent of the newborn population and seven percent of the child population.
According to CIS, that is having a huge strain on the welfare system. About 71 percent of illegal alien headed households with children received welfare in 2009, compared to only 39 percent of native-born headed households.
This is why people use the term “anchor baby” because a baby can anchor a family to the U.S. and all the benefits of citizenship, including welfare.
While Carlson’s essay dealt mostly with middle-class couples from China, Russia, Nigeria, and Turkey, it is undoubtedly a bigger draw for the vast poor in Central and South America.
No border wall, enforcement, or drones can halt foreign visa holders from coming to the U.S. when they’re just days from giving birth. The only way to deal with “anchor babies” are reforming the birthright citizenship law that was slipped in the footnote of a 1982 Justice Brennan decision.
(h/t NRO)
