<p>Putting aside that he cannot work as a lawyer and putting aside that thousands of citizen law grads cannot get jobs, being admitted to the bar requires that you swear to uphold the laws of the state, the US and the Constitution. This guy has knowingly flouted the laws for years. This should not be rewarded or forgiven by the state bar.</p>
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</p>
<p>That’s the thing…the parents willfully committed a crime to help their children. We allow the children to benefit from that crime. We feed, clothe and educate them. We’re making it too attractive! I believe that removing the “anchor baby” benefits are the only way to curtail this bad behavior.</p>
<p>If a parent commits a “home invasion” and murders the homeowner. We don’t allow the culprit’s child to live in the house saying “well…the kid didn’t do anything wrong”. </p>
<p>Thousands of people would like to legally immigrate here and will follow the rules. The rest need to “get in line”.</p>
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</p>
<p>It doesn’t matter whether they “could be” productive or not…they are here ILLEGALLY!! Their parents are here ILLEGALLY!! Stop with the PC crap calling them “undocumented”. They have committed a crime and should be forced to face the consequences of that crime. They CHOSE to take the path of least resistance, as any criminal does, to attain what they wanted as opposed to following the legal, albeit difficult, path to citizenship. Just because it’s difficult doesn’t make it right to circumvent the process.</p>
<p>Anxiousmom…are you really advocating that we start picking and choosing what CRIMES to “blithely” forgive? As every child is told (or at least should’ve been told) growing up, the ends DO NOT justify the means…and actions DO have consequences.</p>
<p>“That is extraordinary foresight on the parents’ part; a native-born citizen cannot even request that his parents be given legal status in the U.S. until he turns 21.”</p>
<p>When you are living in Iran off hand-offs from the Shah, or in Israel and don’t feel secure for the long term (for whatever reason), foresight is part of your life. </p>
<p>And no, it isn’t discretionary - it is pretty close to automatic.</p>
<p>7 or 8 thousand anchor babies per year is an insignificant problem when measured against the 12 million illegal aliens in the US.</p>
<p>^True. The 7-8K tourist births are a drop in the bucket compared to the 350,000 babies per year born in the US to illegal immigrants. See [‘Birth</a> tourism’ not a widespread practice in U.S., data show - USATODAY.com](<a href=“http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2011-08-17-birth-tourism-arizona-border_n.htm]'Birth”>http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2011-08-17-birth-tourism-arizona-border_n.htm)</p>
<p>That article may be of particular interest to mini, since he claims never to have “seen” a pregnant women from Mexico enter the US to give birth, and then return. I’m not sure why he would expect to have seen it, since he lives in Washington state, or how he could ever expect to know it when he sees it. But according to that article, there are several US hospitals near the border set up to provide that service.</p>
<p>Yup, big number:</p>
<p>“Arizona does not keep statistics on births to non-U.S. residents, but in 2010, 1,534 children were born to mothers who did not live in Arizona. That is less than 2 percent of the 88,100 total births at all hospitals in Arizona. The number includes children born to women who were residents of other states, such as California and New Mexico, as well as children born to mothers who are from Mexico or other countries.”</p>
<p>And so that small fraction of 1,534 walked across the border at 8 1/2 months pregnant, gave birth, and walked back. Tell me another fish story.</p>
<p>I’m sure there’s ONE, though I haven’t met her. But there were more than 7,100 other “birth tourists”.</p>
<p>The problem isn’t the baby born here. The problem is the network of relatives who can come in as a result. Give the baby citizenship. Perfectly fine. Just not the parents, siblings, future in-laws, etc.</p>
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</p>
<p>Jeez, that sounds like a lot more than ONE, to me.</p>
<p>But you are right in one sense, hospitals are not required to verify the citizenship of paying customers, so there really is no way to know for sure just how many birth mothers are non-citizens and how many of them walked back over the border after giving birth. It is pretty naive to assume this doesn’t happen with considerable regularity. People who do not live in border states have no idea of the extent of the problem.</p>
<p>“The problem isn’t the baby born here. The problem is the network of relatives who can come in as a result.”</p>
<p>This image of families coming here illegally to have a baby, waiting 21 years and then getting citizenship for the parents (NOT future in-laws, etc.) is a tiny group of people relative to overall immigration.</p>
<p>In order for the “anchor 21-year-old” thing to work:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>If the parents have ever been in the US illegally, they have to show they left and not returned for at least ten years.</p></li>
<li><p>If still in the US illegally, and resident there for over 10 years, they can apply for “relief from deportation,” which is neither legal status nor citizenship, and is capped at 4000 individuals per year. This is a small group of folks.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>[PolitiFact</a> | Fact-checking the claims about ‘anchor babies’ and whether illegal immigrants ‘drop and leave’](<a href=“http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2010/aug/06/lindsey-graham/illegal-immigrants-anchor-babies-birthright/]PolitiFact”>http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2010/aug/06/lindsey-graham/illegal-immigrants-anchor-babies-birthright/)</p>
<p>If anybody wants to propose comprehensive immigration reform, I’m all for it. I think the current system is unfixable. But if we’re going to talk about the current system, it’s important to understand the actual rules and how they are applied.</p>
<p>My D has her F1 student visa and is studying in the US legally. What I find frustrating is that many merit scholarships are not available to her as she is not a US citizen yet this boy who is an illegal probably got some. My D cannot work off campus. Being a musician she had been hired numerous times for paying gigs but being honest with them (and afraid of breaking the law) has told them she could not get paid but would play as a volunteer for the experience. Maddening because she would gladly claim US income tax but the penalty is loss of F1 and deportation. It bothers me that he had been in the country illegally all theses years and got his education and may even get special treatment while someone like my D does everything legally and can’t take $250 for professional gig.</p>
<p>Hanna,</p>
<p>No disrespect intended, but you are being naive. The “anchor-baby” thing does work, regardless of what the statutes and regs say. Think about it. What are the major concerns/expenses of 20-somethings in the US? Food, shelter, education for their kids, and health care. An American citizen child is eligible for government subsidized food (free breakfast and lunch at school), education (all the way through college and professional school), and healthcare. (I’m not sure about eligibility for Section 8 housing, but I know it is out there). Meanwhile, for their undocumented parents, cash-only jobs and fraudulent IDs are plentiful, free healthcare if they patronize the emergency room, plenty of free food banks (in my area of CA, anyway), and shared housing (multiple family dwellings are not uncommon). Worst case, the penalty for getting caught, which is rare, is deportation, and the chances that the US gov’t will separate a mother from her US-born child happens, but is not the norm. Even then, returning to the US is not all that difficult.</p>
<p>If undocumented parents can navigate this “dance” for 21 years, they and all of their relatives are golden. It happens, why continue to deny it?</p>
<p>Almost everything you’re saying about American-citizen children is true of non-native children as well. They get a free education, free breakfast and lunch at school, free health care at the emergency room, etc. So the anchor-baby thing is a red herring; the child born in Mexico and brought here at one day old has just the same American childhood as his citizen sister. Your worries apply to ALL of these kids, as their citizenship does not typically become an issue until they turn 18 and try to get a job or get financial aid.</p>
<p>And after 21 years – are you saying that 4000 people a year is not a drop in the bucket out of the ~11 million illegal immigrants in the US? Or are you arguing, and if so on what evidence, that more than 4000 suspensions of deportation are issued every year, in violation of federal regulations?</p>
<p>I just can’t get outraged about this parade of horribles: hungry families eating donated food; children who need an education going to school; parents working hard while living in multiple-family dwellings (huh? I’m a citizen and I live in one).</p>
<p>I’ll leave aside the question of whether there’s a respectful way to call someone naive, and just provide a link to some news coverage relevant to my experience with the practical application of immigration regulations to families. I appreciate that you see things differently, but this ain’t my first rodeo. [7th</a> Cir finds IJ has authority to grant nonimmigrant waivers | National Immigrant Justice Center](<a href=“http://www.immigrantjustice.org/litigation/blog/7th-cir-finds-ij-has-authority-grant-nonimmigrant-waivers]7th”>http://www.immigrantjustice.org/litigation/blog/7th-cir-finds-ij-has-authority-grant-nonimmigrant-waivers).</p>
<p>Hanna,</p>
<p>I’m just saying that living in the US and raising a US-born child is not difficult for an illegal immigrant and provides plenty of benefits. Like you said, it is effectively the same as being a US citizen and raising a US born child. My point being, that the “anchor baby” falsity is not a deterrent to having a baby. </p>
<p>Multiple-family dwellings are different than multi-family dwellings. The latter refers to apartments and condos, etc. The former refers to multiple families living in a dwelling built and zoned for one family.</p>
<p>Illegal immigration is actually not that hard to stop IMO, except that there are large groups who profit by it, both financially and politically, who don’t want it stopped.</p>
<p>Here’s my plan:</p>
<p>1) No more anchor babies. Like virtually every other country, you now inherit citizenship from your parents.
2) You cannot take or send money out of the country unless you are a citizen or legal resident. Any company caught enabling it pays a fine of 10x the amount.
3) If you hire without verifying citizenship, and they turn out to be illegal, $50,000 fine per illegal.
4) If you rent a house or apartment to an illegal, $5K fine.
5) If you are a citizen of a country identified as likely to overstay a visa, you (or someone on your behalf) must post a $5000 bond. Overstay by one day, the money is forfeited.
6) Expedited deportation courts. No more years-long hearings. If you return after being deported and are caught, you go to jail.
7) A guest-worker program will be started for certain industries like agriculture. However, if you are ever caught illegally in the country, you are banned from the guest worker program.</p>
<p>This removes the incentive to be here illegally, and penalizes the people/companies that enable it.</p>
<p>As for illegals already here:</p>
<p>1) You have 3 months to register with the Feds.
2) In return you will allowed to stay for up to one year to wrap up your affairs, and will be allowed to take your money with you when you leave.
3) Failure to register puts you back in the illegal category.</p>
<p>End of problem.</p>
<p>Honestly, some of the above posts make me sick to my stomache… it’s not right and it is not fair to take a child who only knows American society; who has been educated as an American and who thinks of him or herself as an American, and who is in NO WAY responsible for being brought to the USA… to take that child and deprive him or her of the right to live and work in the country that is home. I don’t understand why it matters to so many of you that these kids not get a fair deal! How do you benefit from them being deported? Or them being allowed to stay in the country but not work or drive?<br>
I have taught these children for years and years. If you saw this in action, I believe that those of you opposed to the DREAM act would change your minds.</p>
<p>obviously he must be bright, but has anybody pointed out to him that we already have too many lawyers?</p>
<p>I don’t care if we have more undocumented citizens who are educated and contribute to the economy (keep in mind our pop. growth here is slowing and we will need more workers), but I do object to having more lawyers. :)</p>
<p>this is my considered opinion. Perhaps we should deport half the lawyers so the rest of them can make a living.</p>
<p>anxiousmom,</p>
<p>Perhaps some of us are not so distraught about it because we don’t perceive having to move to another country as being particularly tragic or traumatic. My parents moved with us children to three different countries while we were growing up. We didn’t have any choice in it. I never thought of that experience as negative. Do you think that America is the only place in the world worth living in?</p>
<p>poetgrl,</p>
<p>As cynical as your post might be, there is some truth to it. If the reason we are supposed to grant amnesty to highly educated illegal immigrants is because of their potential to give back to society, then we really ought to give pause in this case and to supporting more lawyers graduating from non-top-tier law schools in the current economy.</p>
<p>Not at all. I have citizenship in two different countries, and I have traveled a fair bit. My daughter spent three years living abroad in a very different culture, and is going back there to live, since unfair and discriminatory federal immigration policies make it impossible for her to live here with her same-sex partner. ( the federal government won’t recognize gay marriage, and it is impossible for her partner to stay or work legally in the states. So very unfair :-(. But to be deported back to a country where you know no one, and do not wish to go… when you have all your friends in your home country. No.</p>