Associated Press Debunks The ‘Birth Tourism’ Myth

Earlier this summer, when Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) suggested that he may try to amend the Constitution to deny the American-born children of undocumented immigrants citizenship, he argued that “People come here to have babies. They come here to drop a child. It’s called ‘drop and leave.’” Graham also claimed that there is a rampant problem of “birth tourism,” or pregnant women coming to the U.S. on tourist visas simply to have children who are automatically American-born citizens. Meanwhile, other lawmakers support changing the 14th amendment’s citizenship requirements because granting automatic citizenship “encourages” illegal immigration.

However, the Associated Press reports that, though it exists, the trend is “not as dramatic as some immigration opponents have claimed”:

Out of 340,000 babies born to illegal immigrants in the United States in 2008, 85 percent of the parents had been in the country for more than a year, and more than half for at least five years, Jeffrey Passel, a senior demographer for Pew, told The Associated Press.

And immigration experts say it’s extraordinarily rare for immigrants to come to the U.S. just so they can have babies and get citizenship. In most cases, they come to the U.S. for economic reasons and better hospitals, and end up staying and raising families.

Watch ABC’s segment on “birth tourism”: http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2010/09/03/birth-tourism-debunk/

The Associated Press concedes that, “some pregnant Mexican women do come to the United States. In border cities like Nogales, women have been coming to the U.S. for decades to give birth.” However, the article explains that most of those women are seeking better medical care, not citizenship.

All in all, neither citizenship nor health care is what drives immigrants to the U.S. Princeton University sociologist Douglas Massey, who is quoted in the piece and has surveyed Mexican immigrants to the U.S. for 30 years, has explained in the past that “no one ever mentioned having kids in the U.S…what our work shows is that migrants come in response to labor demand in the U.S. and are motivated by economic problems at home.”

In fact, Massey suggests that tightened border security might be responsible for the number of pregnant, immigrant women giving birth in the U.S.: “They end up having babies in the United States because men can no longer circulate freely back and forth from homes in Mexico to jobs in the United States and husbands and wives quite understandably want to be together.”

Finally, if the 14th amendment really was driving undocumented immigrants to the U.S., sociologists note there would be a higher percentage of women of child-bearing age in the U.S. illegally compared to men of the same age. However, data shows just the opposite. Undocumented men significantly outnumber undocumented women.

You said "anchor babies" are a myth.

Hell, even half the people in DU buy that nonsense.

There are faster, cheaper, easier routes to citizenship than waiting for 26 years for your grown baby to sponsor you.

It's absurd.

The "birth tourists" are well off foreigners with differing motivations, it is common among South Africans looking to give their children a safe exit if they need it, it is common among the Chinese looking to get their children an edge in getting into an American university, it is common among couples from muslim countries where "modesty" is more important than the health of the mother in childbirth.

Sounds like they've confirmed that 15% illegal immigrants who give birth in the US have been in the country less than one year. It may not be the main driver, but it is adriver.

Also, per the article: The Associated Press concedes that, “some pregnant Mexican women do come to the United States. In border cities like Nogales, women have been coming to the U.S. for decades to give birth.” However, the article explains that most of those women are seeking better medical care, not citizenship.

So the AP admits that "birth tourism" is real. I'm sure better medical care is part of it, and the added benefit of US citizenship is a little bit of lagniappe. Who pays for this "better medical care"? Where does the hospital send the bill for services rendered, and what happens when the hospital gets stiffed? Can I sneak into Canada illegally for better medical care, and then come back to the US without paying the bill after I've received care in Canada? If not, why not?

You actually probably could get away with that, Bill Gates could show up in an emergency room in Canada and for the purposes of the paperwork would probably be treated as if he were a Canadian vagrant. Canadian hospitals are generally too lazy to bother billing foreigners insured or otherwise.