Friday, January 21, 2011

Anchors Aweigh on Anchor Babies?

Anchors Aweigh on Anchor Babies




By Bobby Eberle January 7, 2011


Republicans are moving forward to eliminate one of the most contentious and obvious abuses of the U.S. Constitution: birthright citizenship. This measure was put forward in the 14th Amendment as means of ensuring that former slaves and their children would be American citizens. However, now we see how that Amendment is being twisted as the children of illegal aliens are instantly granted citizenship even though their parents are not Americans and have no intention to be. Something has to give.



As reported by Fox News, “Four Republican lawmakers introduced legislation Thursday that would end automatic granting of American citizenship to children born in the United States to illegal immigrants, arguing “birthright citizenship” is an incentive for illegals to race for the U.S. border.”



Reps. Steve King of Iowa, George Miller of California and Rob Woodall and Phil Gingrey, both of Georgia, said the current practice of extending U.S. citizenship to so-called “anchor babies” is a “misapplication” of the Constitution’s 14th Amendment.



“Passage of this bill will ensure that immigration law breakers are not rewarded, will close the door to future waves of extended family chain migration, and will help to bring an end to the global ‘birth tourism’ industry,” King said.



The move by the legislators is not a constitutional amendment. As noted in the report, “the House legislation would amend Section 301 of the Immigration and Nationality Act to clarify those classes of individuals born in the United States who are nationals and citizens of the United States at birth.”



Of course, liberals are up in arms and are blasting what they call “extremist” legislation. Extremist? Two illegal aliens cross the border to work. They go back to Mexico when work isn’t here. Back and forth. Then, they have a child while in America, and all of a sudden, that child is an American citizen? Come on!



One argument is that you don’t “punish the children” for the sins of the parents. That phrase was even used in the Fox News story in a lead-in to a quote by Janet Murguia, president and CEO of the National Council of La Raza, who said, “These thoughtless and unnecessary proposals take our country in the wrong direction, away from inclusion and our other core American values.” First of all, declaring that the child is a citizen of Mexico (or whatever country) is NOT a punishment. It’s simply stating a fact. Secondly, you certainly don’t reward the children for sins of the parents either.



In a statement released by the bill’s sponsors, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) said that the current situation “creates an incentive for illegal aliens to cross our border.” Rep. Gary Miller (R-CA) summed up the bill this way: “It is unfair to grant birthright citizenship to children of illegal immigrants because it undermines the intention of the Fourteenth Amendment, rewards those that have recklessly broken our nation’s immigration laws, and costs American taxpayers billions annually. By simply closing this loophole, we will save taxpayers billions and reduce the appeal of entering the United States illegally. This bill simply makes sense.”



For interesting reading and the liberal perspective, check out this column by CNN contributor and NPR commentator Ruben Navarrette, Jr. As usual, this liberal’s take on the situation boils down to two facets: 1) Republicans are racists, and/or 2) Republicans are only thinking about politics. Seriously? Can’t we have a discussion about ANY issue without the same old, tired tactics?



In his “8 reasons to leave 14th Amendment alone,” guess what Navarrette states in reason 1? That’s right… “In this country, we don’t visit the sins of the parent onto the child.” Most of his other reasons deal with politics or racism. In reason 3, he does mocks the conservative principle of strict adherence to the Constitution by claiming Republicans want to simply disregard the 14th Amendment. That’s not the case at all. It is clear and obvious to anyone with a brain that the 14th Amendment (which was written to cover the circumstances of freed slaves) is being abused. Again, does it make any sense at all to grant American citizenship to a child of two people who are not citizens and have no plans to be? No.


States are also joining in the effort to address the anchor baby situation:


Illegal immigration is a huge problem for the United States. It costs taxpayers billions of dollars, costs jobs, and leads to violence along the border.

It all comes down to doing what is right as a country. America is the most welcoming country in the world, and we do this through a series of laws. If the laws are being abused, then they need to be changed.

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CASE STUDY OF ONE MEXICAN FAMILY’S LONG TRAIL OF LOOTING – HOW STAGGERING EXPENSIVE IS ALL THIS “CHEAP” MEX LABOR???



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STUDY OF MEXICANS FEEDING OFF THE AMERICAN GRAVY TRAIN:

Jose Herria emigrated illegally from Mexico to Stockton, Calif., in 1997 to work as a fruit picker. He brought with him his wife, Felipa, and three children, 19, 12 and 8 – all illegals. When Felipa gave birth to her fourth child, daughter Flor, the family had what is referred to as an "anchor baby" – an American citizen by birth who provided the entire Silverio clan a ticket to remain in the U.S. permanently. But Flor was born premature, spent three months in the neonatal incubator and cost the San Joaquin Hospital more than $300,000. Meanwhile, oldest daughter Lourdes married an illegal alien gave birth to a daughter, too. Her name is Esmeralda. And Felipa had yet another child, Cristian. The two Silverio anchor babies generate $1,000 per month in public welfare funding for the family. Flor gets $600 a month for asthma. Healthy Cristian gets $400. While the Silverios earned $18,000 last year picking fruit, they picked up another $12,000 for their two "anchor babies." While President Bush says the U.S. needs more "cheap labor" from south of the border to do jobs Americans aren't willing to do, the case of the Silverios shows there are indeed uncalculated costs involved in the importation of such labor – public support and uninsured medical costs. In fact, the increasing number of illegal aliens coming into the United States is forcing the closure of hospitals, spreading previously vanquished diseases and threatening to destroy America's prized health-care system, says a report in the spring issue of the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons. "The influx of illegal aliens has serious hidden medical consequences," writes Madeleine Pelner Cosman, author of the report. "We judge reality primarily by what we see. But what we do not see can be more dangerous, more expensive, and more deadly than what is seen." According to her study, 84 California hospitals are closing their doors as a direct result of the rising number of illegal aliens and their non-reimbursed tax on the system. "Anchor babies," the author writes, "born to illegal aliens instantly qualify as citizens for welfare benefits and have caused enormous rises in Medicaid costs and stipends under Supplemental Security Income and Disability Income." In addition, the report says, "many illegal aliens harbor fatal diseases that American medicine fought and vanquished long ago, such as drug-resistant tuberculosis, malaria, leprosy, plague, polio, dengue, and Chagas disease." While politicians often mention there are 43 million without health insurance in this country, the report estimates that at least 25 percent of those are illegal immigrants. The figure could be as high as 50 percent. Not being insured does not mean they don't get medical care. Under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act of 1985, hospitals are obligated to treat the uninsured without reimbursement. "Government imposes viciously stiff fines and penalties on any physician and any hospital refusing to treat any patient that a zealous prosecutor deems an emergency patient, even though the hospital or physician screened and declared the patient's illness or injury non-emergency," says the report. "But government pays neither hospital nor physician for treatments. In addition to the fiscal attack on medical facilities and personnel, EMTALA is a handy truncheon with which to pummel politically unpopular physicians by falsely accusing them of violating EMTALA." According to the report, between 1993 and 2003, 60 California hospitals closed because half their services became unpaid. Another 24 California hospitals verge on closure, the author writes. "American hospitals welcome 'anchor babies,'" says the report. "Illegal alien women come to the hospital in labor and drop their little anchors, each of whom pulls its illegal alien mother, father, and siblings into permanent residency simply by being born within our borders. Anchor babies are citizens, and instantly qualify for public welfare aid: Between 300,000 and 350,000 anchor babies annually become citizens because of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and the State wherein they reside." Among the organizations directing illegal aliens into America's medical systems, according to the report, are the Ford Foundation-funded Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, the National Immigration Law Center, the American Immigration Lawyers Association, the American Bar Association's Commission on Immigration Policy, Practice, and Pro Bono, the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, the National Council of La Raza, George Soros's Open Society Institute, the Migration Policy Institute, the National Network for Immigration and Refugee Rights and the Southern Poverty Law Center. Because drug addiction and alcoholism are classified as diseases and disabilities, the fiscal toll on the health-care system rises. When Linda Torres was arrested in Bakersfield, Calif., with about $8,500 in small bills in a sack, the police originally thought it was stolen money, explained the report. It was her Social Security lump sum for her disability -- heroin addiction. "Today, legal immigrants must demonstrate that they are free of communicable diseases and drug addiction to qualify for lawful permanent residency green cards," writes Cosman, a medical lawyer, who formerly taught medical students at the City University of New York. "Illegal aliens simply cross our borders medically unexamined, hiding in their bodies any number of communicable diseases." Many illegals entering this country have tuberculosis, according to the report. "That disease had largely disappeared from America, thanks to excellent hygiene and powerful modern drugs such as isoniazid and rifampin," says the report. "TB's swift, deadly return now is lethal for about 60 percent of those infected because of new Multi-Drug Resistant Tuberculosis. Until recently MDR-TB was endemic to Mexico. This Mycobacterium tuberculosis is resistant to at least two major anti-tubercular drugs. Ordinary TB usually is cured in six months with four drugs that cost about $2,000. MDR-TB takes 24 months with many expensive drugs that cost around $250,000 with toxic side effects. Each illegal with MDR-TB coughs and infects 10 to 30 people, who will not show symptoms immediately. Latent disease explodes later. TB was virtually absent in Virginia until in 2002, when it spiked a 17 percent increase, but Prince William County, just south of Washington, D.C., had a much larger rise of 188 percent. Public health officials blamed immigrants. In 2001 the Indiana School of Medicine studied an outbreak of MDR-TB, and traced it to Mexican illegal aliens. The Queens, New York, health department attributed 81 percent of new TB cases in 2001 to immigrants. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ascribed 42 percent of all new TB cases to 'foreign born' people who have up to eight times higher incidences apparently, 66 percent of all TB cases coming to America originate in Mexico, the Philippines and Vietnam." Other health threats from illegals include, according to the report: Chagas disease, also called American trypanosomiasis or "kissing bug disease," is transmitted by the reduviid bug, which prefers to bite the lips and face. The protozoan parasite that it carries, Trypanosoma cruzi, infects 18 million people annually in Latin America and causes 50,000 deaths. The disease also infiltrates America's blood supply. Chagas affects blood transfusions and transplanted organs. No cure exists. Hundreds of blood recipients may be silently infected. Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease, was so rare in America that in 40 years only 900 people were afflicted. Suddenly, in the past three years America has more than 7,000 cases of leprosy. Leprosy now is endemic to northeastern states because illegal aliens and other immigrants brought leprosy from India, Brazil, the Caribbean and Mexico. Dengue fever is exceptionally rare in America, though common in Ecuador, Peru, Vietnam, Thailand, Bangladesh, Malaysia and Mexico. Recently, according to the report, there was a virulent outbreak of dengue fever in Webb County, Texas, which borders Mexico. Though dengue is usually not a fatal disease, dengue hemorrhagic fever routinely kills. Polio was eradicated from America, but now reappears in illegal immigrants as do intestinal parasites, says the report. Malaria was obliterated, but now is re-emerging in Texas. The Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons report includes a strong prescription for protecting the health of Americans: Closing America's borders with fences, high-tech security devices and troops. Rescinding the U.S. citizenship of "anchor babies." Punishing the aiding and abetting of illegal aliens as a crime. An end to amnesty programs.

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