The US needs those babies born to illegal moms
WASHINGTON — Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) should be ashamed. Pandering to a rising nativist fervor by suggesting repeal of birthright citizenship, he and others — like GOP gubernatorial nominee Nathan Deal — have aimed their indignation at the very babies who can help their country regain its competitive edge.
With sinking birth rates and longer lifespans, much of the industrialized world grows grayer every day. Throughout Western Europe, demographers worry about a population too old to work and pay the bills. Already, the Japanese, who have never cottoned to “outsiders,” are struggling to care for a citizenry with a significant share of seniors.
But, as several economists have noted, the United States has an advantage: We’re still having babies. Some of them, it turns out, are born to women without papers. Rather than changing the law and kicking them out, we ought to be celebrating them with birthday parties.
In “The Next Hundred Million: America in 2050,” writer Joel Kotkin forecasts a prosperous nation buoyed by immigration. “In advanced countries,” he writes, “a rapidly aging or decreasing population does not bode well.” The U.S., however, will “maintain a youthful, dynamic demographic,” partly because of “a resourceful stream of ever-assimilating immigrants.”
Graham was once among those who could be counted on to be sensible about illegal immigration. In 2007, he supported a path to citizenship, declaring, “We’re not going to run people down. We’re not going to scapegoat people. We’re going to tell the bigots to shut up, and we’re going to get this right.”
Last month, however, he took up with the rightwing fringe, which would reverse tradition and rescind longheld principles in order to reject illegal immigrants and their children.
“Birthright citizenship I think is a mistake. . .We should change our constitution and say, ‘if you come here illegally and you have a child, that child’s automatically not a citizen,’ ” Graham told Fox News last month.
Opponents of birthright citizenship claim that pregnant women penetrate our borders illegally just to “drop a child” — as Graham crudely put it — who will enjoy the rights of U.S. citizens. There’s little evidence for that claim.
According to a new study by the Pew Hispanic Center, about 8 percent of the babies born in the U.S. in 2008 — 340,000 out of 4.3 million — had at least one parent who was here illegally. The authors of the Pew study also contradicted the notion that most of those parents were recent arrivals showing up to “drop and leave.” More than 80 percent of mothers had been here more than a year — and more than half five years or more.
Many of their children consider themselves full-fledged Americans, with or without documents. They speak English, earn good grades and hope to attend college. They’re like metro Atlanta’s Jessica Colotl, who has attended Kennesaw State University, or Maryland’s Yves Gomes, who hopes to go to the University of Maryland.
Both Colotl and Gomes were brought here illegally as children, but they are among the upwardly mobile young folks who underscore one of this country’s virtues — its tradition of assimilation. As Kotkin writes, “In the next decades the fate of western countries may well depend on their ability to make social and economic room for people whose origins lie outside Europe. The United States, Canada, Australia, Britain, Germany, and France produce insufficient new children of European descent to prevent them from becoming granny nation-states by 2050.”
Those facts are unlikely to stop the angry nativists searching for scapegoats. In a time of continuing layoffs, relentless foreclosures and crippling household debt, Americans tend to become less generous and more resentful of “the other.” Though illegal immigrants didn’t cause the recession or steal jobs, they’re easy to blame.
But political leaders have a special responsibility to lower the temperature rather than raise it, to trade in facts rather than stereotypes, to pay attention to the nation’s long-term health rather than their short-term political gain. So I’m disappointed in Graham. (I never expected much from Deal.)
Surely, he’s aware of the demographic trends elsewhere. Surely, he understands that the nation needs younger workers to fund his eventual retirement and pay his Medicare bills.
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806 comments Add your comment
Orange10
August 13th, 2010
6:57 am
No, we don’t. We don’t need them or their fathers, mothers, grandfather, grandmother, uncle, aunt, first cousin, second cousin etc, best friend or anyony else they may be associated with. Enforcement only!
neo-Carlinist
August 13th, 2010
7:11 am
while nativism and xenophobia have always existed; I don’t know that every American who seeks the formulation and execution of a workable immigration policy is a “nativist”. and we all know politicians by nature, “pander”. a politician does not see unchecked immigration as “threat” so much as an opportunity to trade horses on behalf of his/her speciaial interest masters. perhaps the answer to the issues lies in some sort of provisional or probationary citizenship for minor children whose parents are not American citizens; a permanent resident or green card type of classification. sounds obvious the way to rid the country of “undocumented” residents is to “document” them. as such, they will enjoy the benefits of living, learning and eventually working in the United States, and upon their 18th birthday, if they are a “permanent resident in good standing” they can either return to the home of their parents, or become a naturalized U.S. citizen. this, in conjunction with more comprehensive border security will eventually pare down the number of undocumented workers in America.
T-Town
August 13th, 2010
7:24 am
My problem is not who comes and stays in the country, we are the melting pot. My problem is who has to adapt to the tsunami of immigrants that are flowing in. I now have to press one for English…….will I have to learn a different language in the future when the forth coming politicians make English a secondary language? Have you seen the instruction booklets that now accompany things that have to be put together? As an older citizen, even knowing you can teach an old dog new tricks, I now have problems with understanding the words in the songs playing on the radio. Adding new ones will not make me happy.
jconservative
August 13th, 2010
7:29 am
“Amendment 14
1. 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….”
I am not sure about Sen. Lindsay but some of those wanting to have a congressional hearing on the 14th Amendment are zeroing in on the phrase “…and subject to the jurisdiction thereof…”. They see this as an out to get around the amendment.
But I would tread carefully around this. That phrase takes care of diplomats who are not subject to the jurisdiction of the US due to diplomatic immunity. I would be careful about declaring all illegals as not subject to US jurisdiction. How would the US & local law enforcements personnel arrest them for anything?
——————–
I have been reading the demographic trends in the Western world for several years. And the problem of an aging citizenry and the burden placed on the smaller (percentage) working citizenry is critical. And if WASPs are not going to have babies, they need to come from somewhere.
The problem is assimilation and education. And that is another story.
Azazel
August 13th, 2010
7:30 am
But there are already more people here than the economy can or ever will be able to support; so where is the necessity, for more people?
GB
August 13th, 2010
7:37 am
So their mothers “lack papers,” do they? And most of these paper-lacking mothers are not recent arrivals, just here to drop a baby or two, but are long term paper-lacking residents.
Well, that certainly makes me feel better.
The Colotls of the world get a lot of attention, but how typical are these successful students? According to the Pew Hispanic Center, one-third of illegal immigrants (i. e., immigrants who “lack papers”) don’t even have a primary school education. The chances that the children of these poorly educated parents will excel in school are poor. We are importing poverty, illiteracy, crime and all sorts of social ills.
No, the US does not need these babies born to illegal moms.
Joel
August 13th, 2010
7:42 am
I would like to know what percentage of anchor babies are on some sort of public assistance.
Soames
August 13th, 2010
7:43 am
I definitely do not agree with your viewpoint CT. We already have a heavy burden on the welfare system and with politicians expanding freebies with every piece of legislation they pass, it’s adding more monopoly money to the pot. At the end of the day, someone will have to foot the bill and it won’t be those who receive these services. You can tax the rich 100% and it will still not overcome the deficit that we are projecting….I guess liberals aren’t very good at economics either. Democrats are trying to get us all on the plantation….workin fo’ massa.The government wants to control what you eat, what you say, how much money you can make, what kind of car you can drive – before long we’ll all wear CO2 monitors and be taxed on that. Give me a fricking break! You just thought the Patriot Act violated your rights…just wait and see what else the government has in store for us. I’m paying attention, are you CT?
gale
August 13th, 2010
7:45 am
No, we do not need them. We need to enforce our laws. If a baby is born here of an illegal woman, give her a paper that offers the child citizen status at 18, then send them both home. If she gave birth in a hospital, that should not be too hard to manage. If all likelihood, most of the births we see are not the first, but the 4th or 5th child. Send them home.
TW
August 13th, 2010
7:47 am
I can’t believe Jesus would condone all this hatred toward his children.
TW
August 13th, 2010
7:50 am
Although, by bashing others we don’t have to look at ourselves. And being that never in the history of the planet has the white man shown his a$$ like he does today in ‘real ‘merica’, that’s maybe a good thing?
T-Town
August 13th, 2010
7:51 am
TW, What EXACTLY are you on?
USMC DAWG
August 13th, 2010
7:56 am
Where is the GOVERNMENT of MEXICO’s responsibility in all of this?????
Why isn’t OBAMA demanding an explanation from the President of Mexico for all of the parasites invading our country?
MEXICO, FIX YOUR SYSTEM! Take care of your people.
Once again, another DISHONEST, UN-AMERICAN article from Cynthia Tucker.
Cynthia, Illegal is Illegal… Wake up!
Bob
August 13th, 2010
7:56 am
TW, this is America 2010, who cares what Jesus thinks.
gale
August 13th, 2010
7:59 am
I don’t hate Mexicans or Central Americans. I do hate that they refuse to follow our rules. We have a process for immigration and foreign worker status. The process does not say if you make it across the border, you are free to stay, and by the way, you don’t need to bother to get a job or learn English. As someone who has experience with the US immigration policy. You will hear that it is difficult and takes too long. The policy needs to be changed. But it does not need to be an open door.
JohnnyReb
August 13th, 2010
8:04 am
Europe is being taken over by Muslims. The extreme Left there may think its OK, but most natives will not. Their problem? It’s too late to stop it.
For the USA, it’s not too late to stop illegal immigration. If the face of our country is to change, it must change under our laws, not illegally.
granny godzilla
August 13th, 2010
8:05 am
I find the term “anchor babies” offensive. Please make up an offensive term for the parents who are at fault. How about “pirate parents”?
“about 8 percent of the babies born in the U.S. in 2008 — 340,000 out of 4.3 million — had at least one parent who was here illegally”
I need some clarification….does this include babies with one citizen parent and one illegal immigrant parent? Or is it one legal immigrant and one illegal immigrant?
gale
August 13th, 2010
8:08 am
granny Godzilla, from my point of view, the issue is only an illegal mother. If the father is here legally, I believe our laws provide for a person to sponsor his spouse.
Peadawg
August 13th, 2010
8:08 am
“The US needs those babies born to illegal moms”
For once I’m speechless. I don’t even know what to say to something so stupid. The only think I can do is this:
ttp://www.sodahead.com/living/why-do-dogs-tilt-their-head-when-they-are-confused/question-425719/?link=ibaf&imgurl=http://www.triple-tri.com/ttblog/media/blogs/triple/bulldog.jpg&q=bulldog%2Btilting%2Bhis%2Bhead
martin
August 13th, 2010
8:09 am
Illegal is Illegal Ms. Tucker, it is not fair to the US tax payer to just give away money to support people who aren’t paying taxes. It is also not fair to those who have come here legally to watch people break the law to get here and have children here become citizens then have a fast track to citizens themselves. They are breaking the law. It isn’t a hate thing, its a love for the law.
granny godzilla
August 13th, 2010
8:12 am
gale
should it not be that if one parent is a citizen the child is? if one parent is a legal the child is a legal immigrant?
mother or father?
Olddawg
August 13th, 2010
8:12 am
CT
It seems you don’t know much about the underbelly of the illegal Hispainic community. Go to Dalton, Calhoun, Cartersville, Claxton, Camilla, Perry, Montezuma, or Gainesville and ask the Elementary school teachers how many speak English when they come to school and how much support they get from these non-english speaking Mothers. Or even how many of these kids have social security numbers. Go to any of these towns hospital emergency rooms on a Saturday night and ask the E-room Dr.’s how many patients they treat that don’t have papers or proper ID’s and then don’t pay their bills. Needless to say the public assistance rolls, and watch out on the home forclosures – how many close relatives can live in a 3 bedroom ranch?
gale
August 13th, 2010
8:18 am
granny, I am not sure about that. You are probably right, assuming the mother is married to the father. At the least, ICE should take the opportunity to make certain the mother is properly documented. We have far too many persons inside our borders who are complete unknowns. I mean really. Children must have certain vaccinations before entering public schools, right? I think we should use that opportunity to verify immigration status.
Matti
August 13th, 2010
8:19 am
The Constitution is sacred! (Except the parts that support rights for people we don’t like.) Stop treading on our Constitution! (Unless you’re treading where we want you to.) How DARE you destroy our Constitution! How DARE you try to stop us from changing our Constitution!
ginko balboa
August 13th, 2010
8:20 am
My head is spinning from the revolving door of topics. Seems like we’re hitting this every 3-4 days or so…
Marine
August 13th, 2010
8:21 am
CT seems to make a living out of the same 3-4 topics, nice gig if you can get it. But to the point, what is it in your upbringing that led you to believe laws need not be followed?
bee
August 13th, 2010
8:22 am
CT -
You are a disgrace to the human race and to Americans everywhere. You rather bore us to death with your idiotic Michael Moore-ish propaganda than discuss the actual REALITIES we are currently experiencing with your cult of a party? Two Democrats in NH both have said within the past couple of days they wish Sarah Palin would have died in that plane crash along side Ted Stevens. Waters and Rangel are involved in two of the biggest corruption scandals in decades. Harry Reid plays the race card, again, and tries to intimidate Hispanics into voting for him. More allegations are breaking in the White House’s attempt to bribe candidates to not run in their respective offices. Obama has decided to allow millions of people to starve while stripping funds from their food stamp program. Where are you on these troubling issues? Why do you not have the spine or the decency to confront your fellow evil brethren? You are disgusting.
granny godzilla
August 13th, 2010
8:23 am
gale
parenthood does not require a marriage certficate, and i would not like to see that used to prevent a child denied it’s rights.
StJ
August 13th, 2010
8:23 am
“The US needs those babies born to illegal moms” like we need a trip to bankruptcy court.
If they want to come here, they should do it legally.
The fog in TuckerWorld is thick today.
ginko balboa
August 13th, 2010
8:24 am
I have an idea.
Why don’t we incentivise child production. You know, give money to people for having babies. The more they have the more money they get. Pretty soon it will catch on. WAIT….this already happens – they’re called WELFARE BABIES!
granny godzilla
August 13th, 2010
8:24 am
boy my last sentence was messed up…
let me please correct to
parenthood does not require a marriage certficate, and i would not like to see that used to prevent a child from getting it’s rights.
sorry, need more caffiene this morning
For Real
August 13th, 2010
8:25 am
I can see Cynthia’s point and am sure she feels good about herself for having that view; but maybe we should think the whole thing through. An illegal immigrant goes to the emergency room to have a baby. It’s a cute baby. Unfortunately, the cost of the delivery without insurance is $9,000 to $14,000. She can’t pay so I guess the tax payers have to pay. Somewhere there is a worker who earns about $41,000 per year. That person worked an entire year and their tax bill was about $11,000. So we have one worker who had to work an entire to pay for the baby the illegal immigrant had in our hospital. We definitely need more illegal immigrants having more babies in the US. We don’t have anything else to spend our money on.
Jethro
August 13th, 2010
8:26 am
The whole point is to do it the right and legal way. Why do libs have such a problem with that? Why does the law not matter to libs?
resno2
August 13th, 2010
8:26 am
a resourceful stream of ever-assimilating immigrants
“…pregnant women penetrate our borders illegally just to “drop a child” — as Graham crudely put it — who will enjoy the rights of U.S. citizens. There’s little evidence for that claim.”
“…in 2008 — 340,000 out of 4.3 million — had at least one parent who was here illegally”
1 in 15 kids in the U.S. are a child of illegals. Isn’t that evidence?
Emma
August 13th, 2010
8:26 am
It strikes me as odd how Cynthia devoted an entire article to a quasi-Conservative in name only, when he called some in the base “crazy cons,” yet she is nowhere to be found since Gibbs, a high ranking Obama staff member, called people like Ms. Tucker herself “crazy.” Hmmm……
Listen Everybody
August 13th, 2010
8:29 am
Remember the onion wars?
sally
August 13th, 2010
8:30 am
We are all children of God, papers be damned….
granny godzilla
August 13th, 2010
8:32 am
Emma and Friends
Could you please provide a program for liberals so we know who y’all consider “real” vs “quasi” republicans/conservatives?
Jethro
August 13th, 2010
8:34 am
Granny
How about providing a list for republicans/conservatives so we know which laws y’all consider ok to ignore or respect.
neo-Carlinist
August 13th, 2010
8:34 am
the bottom line is the bottom line, folks. corporate America (the ownership class) NEEDS undocumented labor to enjoy the benefits of capitalism. you want to pay $25 for a head of lettuce? do youy think the CEO of Tyson Foods is going to work in a poultry processing plant? What do you think it would cost to landscape or paint one’s home (heaven forbid an American would actually do yard work?) if the guy who owned the business had to do the work himself, or pay all mandated minimum wage, payroll taxes, and Social Security/Medicare? or better yet, how about a painters’ or landscapers’ union? do you think the executives at the large corporations (hotels, corporate farms, construction would trade a portion of their compensation for the purpose of making America “stronger” and “safer” and “solvent”?
godless heathen
August 13th, 2010
8:34 am
And Cinco de Mayo will be a National Holiday! I can’t wait!
gale
August 13th, 2010
8:36 am
granny, parenthood does not require marriage, but sponsoring a spouse for immigration purposes does require a marriage certificate. Many gay couples have moved to other countries because of that. If they are married and the father is here legally, there is a process for the mother to be here legally.
granny godzilla
August 13th, 2010
8:37 am
Jethro
My husband and I violate a certain section of the GA sodomy law every now and again….how about you and your partner?
We also have been known to speed on 85.
Now as to my question?
ginko balboa
August 13th, 2010
8:38 am
Neo -
“the bottom line is the bottom line, folks. corporate America (the ownership class) NEEDS undocumented labor to enjoy the benefits of capitalism. ”
Are you a friggin moron? What BENEFITS from capitalism are we now enjoying? a recession? a deficit? Out of control spending, corporate welfare, trickle down economics that haven’t trickled down?
Walk on home boy
J. Kase
August 13th, 2010
8:38 am
I have an idea, let’s put a set amount of money in Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, food stamps, unemployment, etc. Now make all the illegal immigrants legal and put them into one of these categories (if they don’t have a legal job), but we will not increase the funding for any of these governmental agencies. This will mean those already in these programs will have to do with less, which shouldn’t be a problem, because we will be re-distributing the wealth. Now we can all live happily ever after.
For Real
August 13th, 2010
8:39 am
If a burglar breaks into a store to be at the front of the line on Black Friday because they want a good deal. They are still a burglar. They go to jail if they are caught. Just because they happened to be in the front of the line when the store opened does not mean they have the “right” to purchase the product. They are in the store illegally and go to jail.
A baby born in the US is innocent. That does not give it the “right” to American citizenship. It has the right to the citizenship of it’s parents.
If it were as simple as granting the baby citizenship I would say that’s great. Unfortunately, it creates the “anchor” baby dilemma. You have one or two parents who violated the law, cut in line of people waiting in line to get here legally, who now have an American citizen as a child. We can’t deport an American citizen; and who in their right mind would try to deport the parents of the child.
Though well intended, this clause is abused and is a way for illegal immigrants to avoid deportation.
South Georgia Farmer
August 13th, 2010
8:40 am
I need someone to pick my precious Vidalia’s. Any takers? How about you Kennesaw? I need someone to harvest my delicious peaches. How about you East Cobb? My cousins the Cagles need chicken processors. Whata ya say Buckhead? I need sh-t shovelers. What says you Dunwoody? You said hire the black high school dropouts to do those jobs? We’re locking all of them up for peddeling five dollar crack rocks and smashing and grabbing, and when they get out of jail we run background checks knowing full well they will not pass them. That’s okay because my rich uncle has contracts to operate private prisons, and will always have plenty of customers.
Tom
August 13th, 2010
8:41 am
US population is getting too “gray”?
Guess it’s time to ban abortions.
JohnnyReb
August 13th, 2010
8:42 am
Here’s an example of where we went wrong on immigration. To my surprise, this was enacted during Reagan’s second term.
From Wiki – The Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA)passed in 1986 as part of the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA). It requires hospitals and ambulance services to provide care to anyone needing emergency healthcare treatment regardless of citizenship, legal status or ability to pay. There are no reimbursement provisions (unfunded mandate).
According to the Census Bureau, some 9.7 million of the nation’s 45.7 million uninsured people in 2007 were non-citizens. Access by illegal immigrants to U.S. health care through EMTALA remains a source of controversy. The Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 contained a provision for $250 million per year for fiscal years 2005-2008 in payments to eligible providers for emergency health services provided to undocumented aliens and other specified aliens.
Owl
August 13th, 2010
8:42 am
People who are failures always deflect, as in this anchor baby debate.
If you attack the true problem- close the holes in our borders- ain’t nobody illegal gonna be dropping anchor babies.
But you just keep on failing baby!!!