'Anchor Babies' in Play

The news media, in it's never-ending goal of proving how much they are in the pockets of liberals, seems to have started covering for the President on illegal immigration, publishing stories they think will help his chances of passing something to legalize illegal aliens.

(CNN) -- Julie Quiroz, a 14-year-old U.S. citizen, has been separated from her mother for nearly two years. Her mom was deported to Mexico for being in the United States illegally.

Julie Quiroz is one of an estimated 4 million "citizen children" in the United States, according to new study.

At the age of 12, Julie was forced to decide between her country and her family. With the help of a Christian philanthropist, she chose to stay in the United States.

"It's really, really hard to leave your family," she told CNN by phone. - CNN

A tear jerker for sure.

That said, this kid, and others in a similar situation, need to realize that their parents entered this country illegally and may have to face up to their crime by being deported. Yes, the children might be separated from their parents, as being American Citizens, they do not face deportation like their illegal alien parents, and can stay in the US. However, they can go back with their parents if they feel so strongly about not being separated. So there is no force separation. The parents have the right to force the child to return to their home country with them. Instead, they find a way to keep their children in the US. That is choice. Not for anything, but they should appreciate the fact that they are given this choice instead of forcing the children to remain with their legal guardians.

Julie is called a 'citizen child' in the CNN story above. I am not sure where they got that term, especially since there is already a term out there for her. Julie is an 'Anchor Child'. (Seems they got the Citizen Child term from this group, 'Organization to Help Citizen Children', which is mentioned in the story.)

Anchor baby is a derogatory term for a child born in the United States to immigrants or other non-citizens, regardless of the immigration status of the parents. The term refers to the supposed role of the child, as a U.S. citizen, in facilitating immigration through family reunification under the provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965. - Wikipedia

Call it derogatory if you want, the act itself is a despicable one, as it uses a child to help foreign nations obtain legal residency in the US. the definition claims a 'supposed role' for the child, but the CNN story itself is clearly using the child to bring sympathy to the plight of the parents. and family.

In fact the Government has take one step to discourage this type of anchor-baby immigration by delaying the process by which the child can request immigration rights for their parents until they become 21. (I did not know until now that the Government does appear to penalize those who were here illegally when they gave birth to their child. I wonder if this only applies to those who were caught at the time or do they investigate their status at the time of birth as part of the application process.)

Under existing law, parents of United States citizens may be sponsored for immigration by their adult citizen children (those at least 21 years of age) under certain conditons. The child must demonstrate the financial ability to provide for the parents. In addition to this under current law and USCS policy individuals who entered illegally (EWI or Entry without Inspection) may not adjust in the country. However, leaving the United States triggers a ban on entering the U.S. If the parent was only present in the U.S. between 180-364 days they will get a 3 year ban. However, more commonly if they were present for 365 days or more, they will get a ten year ban on entering the U.S. Unless, the parent is willing to live out the ban outside the country, they may not regularize their status though the child. For parents that enter legally they will not have to leave the U.S. to adjust status unless they entered on a K visa or for people who entered on J visas and did not obtain a wavier for the foreign stay period - Wikipedia

One option not seriously discussed to this point is to stop granting automatic citizenship to babies born in the US when their parents are here illegally. There have been some calls for this change but none have gained any traction. Personally, I am not in favor of making the change. After all, it is not the kids fault. I think that before going that far, they should change the law eliminating the possibility of legal immigration for parents through their US-born children for those parents who came to the US illegally. The child would no longer be an 'anchor baby' and may cut down on immigration by pregnant women looking for US citizenship. Then again, it just might take a refusal to grant citizenship in order to get control of this problem.

How big is this problem? Big:

Nearly 4 million children who have at least one parent who entered the U.S. illegally were born in the United States and are U.S. citizens as a result, according to the study conducted by the Pew Hispanic Center. That's about three quarters of the estimated 5.5 million children of illegal immigrants inside the United States, according to the study. About 1.8 million children of undocumented immigrants live in poverty, the study found.

"Among children whose parents are unauthorized immigrants, one in three is poor. The [poverty] rate of children of unauthorized immigrants is similar whether the children are unauthorized immigrants or U.S. born," the study says. - CNN

'Unauthorized Immigrants'. You have to love the pro-illegal alien re-branding. Well, according to the figures above, the US Government would need to grant legal residency status to between 4 and 8 million illegal aliens to permit them to stay with their Us-born children. I bet the number is closer to 8 million, unless all these illegal aliens come over here while single and then all managed to find U.S. Citizens to marry. Using their numbers, legalizing these illegal-alien parents would end up legalizing 1/3 to 2/3s of all illegal aliens! That would basically take a big chunk out of the issue of what to do with illegal aliens, seeing that the fate of about half would be decided based on having an anchor baby.

Can you imagine the flood of illegal aliens coming to the US if this become a possible route to legal residency?.

Previous:

Mexico and the US Governments are the Immigration Problem - 25 May 07
How Illegal Aliens get a 'Social Security Number' in their own Name - 27 Sept 07
Iraq, Zimbabwe and Mexico - 21 Sept 07
Elvira Arellano Should Not Have Been Deported - 30 Aug 07
Now that the Illegal Alien Bill is Dead, How about Securing the Border - 9 June 07
Congress Should do Nothing About Illegal Aliens - 7 June 07
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff Should Resign - 2 June 07
"Rep. Steve King: The Voyage to Amnestistan (Amnesty) Aboard The Clipper Ship "America"" - 2 June 07

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