[Vision2020] Chinese birth tourism booms in Southern California

[Kenneth Marcy]

Chinese birth tourism booms in Southern California
http://blog.sfgate.com/sfmoms/2013/03/15/chinese-birth-tourism-booms-in-southern-california/ 


Any child born on U.S. soil  is granted citizenship. Hundreds of 
expecting moms from Mexico have been crossing the border into Arizona to 
deliver their babies for years as a result. Now, a growing number of 
pregnant Chinese women are flying to the U.S. to secure their child that 
prized U.S. birth certificate, and Southern California has become a hot 
bed of what's called "birth tourism."

This week KTLA-TV 
<http://ktla.com/2013/03/13/exclusive-local-motel-converted-into-makeshift-maternity-hospital/#axzz2NSwGPypT> 
reported on a motel in Arcadia where expectant women from China are 
checking in to give birth. Every three to four months a new group 
arrives. The hotel provides guests with a full-time nursing staff, meals 
and a nursery. The women are typically wealthy 
<http://rockcenter.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/07/17225891-born-in-the-usa-birth-tourists-get-instant-us-citizenship-for-their-newborns?lite> 
and pay a China-based agency about $25K in fees for travel, medical, 
visa and other related expenses.

After giving birth and receiving their newborn's U.S. birth certificates 
and passports, the women and their babies fly back to China. As U.S. 
citizens the children can return when they're older to attend school and 
take advantage of other benefits that go along with citizenship. Some 
women are also making the trip as a way to get around China's one-child 
policy because the restriction doesn't apply to those who deliver out of 
the country.

While hotel employees are denying that they're running a "baby factory," 
Arcadia Asst. City Manager Jason Kruckeberg told KTLA that the city is 
aware of the hotel's underground operation. Even though some locals 
disapprove of the situation, Kruckeberg says the city has no power to 
stop it because nothing illegal is happening. Equipped with tourism or 
business visas, these women aren't violating federal immigration laws.

Last month, the media covered a similar situation in Chino Hills where a 
residential home was transformed into a maternity hotel for women 
traveling from China. Some neighbors were so outraged by the the 
activity generated by the operation that they picketed 
<http://rockcenter.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/07/17225891-born-in-the-usa-birth-tourists-get-instant-us-citizenship-for-their-newborns?lite> 
outside the home.

Chino Hills resident Rossana Mitchell told CBS 
<http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57566313/maternity-tourism-how-chinese-couples-buy-u.s-citizenship-for-their-babies/>: 
"When people think of the American dream, they're not thinking about 
birth tourism. They're thinking about people who come here, immigrate 
here, work hard, pay their taxes, become citizens and become Americans."

Authorities eventually shuttered the maternity hotel due to zoning 
issues, according to NBC 
<http://rockcenter.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/07/17225891-born-in-the-usa-birth-tourists-get-instant-us-citizenship-for-their-newborns?lite>.

The United States is one of many countries in the world where a child 
automatically receives citizenship at birth. "The U.S. law dates back to 
the 14^th Amendment of the Constitution, ratified after the Civil War to 
ensure that all freed slaves and their children would be American 
citizens," according to NBC 
<http://rockcenter.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/07/17225891-born-in-the-usa-birth-tourists-get-instant-us-citizenship-for-their-newborns?lite>.

Some lawmakers want to see an end to the practice. Representative Phil 
Gingrey (R-Ga) thinks the 14th Amendment should be reinterpreted so only 
children with at least one American parent receive citizenship. Earlier 
this year he introduced a legislation aimed at ending birth tourism.

But just how big is the birth tourism problem and is a new law really 
necessary?

NBC reports:

    The most recent statistics from the National Center for Health
    Statistics show that births of babies on American soil to foreign
    mothers increased from 5,009 births in 2000 to 7,462 births in
    2008.  This is a tiny percentage of the more than four million
    babies born in America each year.  There is no tracking system in
    place to record which countries the mothers are from or why they are
    in the United States.

Angela Kelley, the vice president of immigration policy and advocacy for 
the Center for American Progress, isn't convinced that the birth tourism 
issue is big enough to warrant a reinterpretation of the Constitution.

"I don't see this type of legislation having any traction, or being 
taken seriously," Kelley told NBC. "I think something as really 
fundamental and integral to this nation's character: that you're born 
here, you belong here, that we're not a country club that you apply to-- 
that would be met with enormous resistance from all sorts of 
quarters...from left and from the right."

/How do you think our country should deal with birth tourism?/


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