It’s time for U.S. to amend outdated birthright laws

Frank Musaraca, Henderson

Tuesday, May 4, 2010 | 2:01 a.m.

In its feeble efforts to effectively reform and enforce immigration laws, Congress refuses to address one of the major reasons illegal immigrants come here (I’m a retired U.S. Customs agent with 15 years of experience on the Mexican border).

A very significant percentage of female illegal immigrants come here, not to work, but to take advantage of our antiquated birthright laws. They know that they can give birth through our hospital emergency rooms, at our expense, because of our liberal welfare system.

They know it is illegal for this country to force a U.S.-born citizen to leave the country, forcing us to allow the mother of the baby residency as well! It is frustrating how this flagrant Catch-22 situation continues to fly under the radar. It is so obviously a major issue, more costly to Americans than politicians or the media are willing to admit, and corrective action is not being seriously discussed by Congress.

An effective and permanent fix would be to amend our birthright law (as most countries have) to provide that children born in the U.S. are citizens of the mother’s country unless one or both parents are legal residents, or citizens, of the U.S.

We must also mandate that a DNA sample be provided at birth in questionable cases to prevent fraudulent claims by the father. Further, all charges for emergency room care must be billed to the country of the recipient’s citizenship when they are not legally in the U.S.

I challenge our representatives to give this issue deserved consideration in their attempt to pass a truly effective immigration law.