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I believe that as long as scum in office are going to blatantly misinterpret the 14th amendment to mean anyone born in the US regardless if their parents are under jurisdiction of the US we should not let pregnant women enter the US.
In California, 'birth tourism' appears to grow - Wire National News - The Sacramento Bee
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Born in New York, Jennifer Shih, a UC Davis senior, attended high schools in Idaho and Utah before graduating from her alma mater in California.
But even she will tell you she is anything but an all-American girl.
Shih was reared in her parents' home country, Taiwan, and returned to the United States at age 15, when it was time to claim her birthright as a U.S. citizen for a public education.
"I'm Taiwanese more than American," Shih, who is 23 and double-majoring in communication and psychology, said on a recent weekday afternoon in Davis.
Shih personifies an immigration trend that can be seen as the mirror opposite of those teens and young adults who came to this country illegally as children and are now trying to secure legal residency.
Eight months pregnant, Shih's mother legally entered the United States on a tourist visa in 1989. Two months after giving birth at a Manhattan hospital, she returned to Taiwan with her U.S. passport-bearing daughter in tow.
The family acknowledges it planned the birth so that Shih could become a U.S. citizen and eventually go to school here.
"The educational system in the U.S. is better and more open," said Shih's father, Simon, 55.
Critics call it "birth tourism" and the practice is solidly entrenched in the Los Angeles area, though so-called maternity homes catering to expectant mothers from East Asia are also advertised in the San Francisco Bay Area.
No one knows how many "birth tourists" visit this country each year.
In 2010, the mothers of 7,719 children born in the United States reported that they lived overseas, according to the National Center for Health Statistics – a figure up nearly 55 percent since 2000.
Critics say the data vastly understate the number, because they use information self-reported by parents during their hospital stays.
Jay Chang, who shuttles between Taipei and Los Angeles, serves as a consultant for nine maternity homes. Chang, 41, had his two children born through a maternity home over a decade ago. He argues that the practice is "in line with the spirit of the Constitution," adding that the U.S. government was "getting a good deal."
"We bring cash to pay for our births; we go back to our country to raise the child, and then he comes back to work and pay taxes to the U.S. government," Chang said in Mandarin during a phone interview from Los Angeles.
Jennifer Shih has followed a similar path, attending public schools in Taiwan until her parents decided it was time for her to return to the United States in 2004.
"She was already fluent in Chinese, so now she could move on to English," her father said. "Being bilingual will make her more competitive in the future."
Simon Shih made arrangements with a family friend in Idaho to temporarily raise his daughter.
With little fanfare, on the night of her junior high school graduation, she said goodbye to family and friends, and boarded a 13-hour flight to a place she described as a "foreign country."
"It was pretty scary," she said. "It was my first time flying by myself."
A growing industry
Pregnant women are driven to make the long and risky trip because of educational and job opportunities in the United States, Chang said. Some hope their children can help them emigrate later; once the children turn 21, they can petition the government to grant legal residency for their parents.
In California, 'birth tourism' appears to grow - Wire National News - The Sacramento Bee
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Born in New York, Jennifer Shih, a UC Davis senior, attended high schools in Idaho and Utah before graduating from her alma mater in California.
But even she will tell you she is anything but an all-American girl.
Shih was reared in her parents' home country, Taiwan, and returned to the United States at age 15, when it was time to claim her birthright as a U.S. citizen for a public education.
"I'm Taiwanese more than American," Shih, who is 23 and double-majoring in communication and psychology, said on a recent weekday afternoon in Davis.
Shih personifies an immigration trend that can be seen as the mirror opposite of those teens and young adults who came to this country illegally as children and are now trying to secure legal residency.
Eight months pregnant, Shih's mother legally entered the United States on a tourist visa in 1989. Two months after giving birth at a Manhattan hospital, she returned to Taiwan with her U.S. passport-bearing daughter in tow.
The family acknowledges it planned the birth so that Shih could become a U.S. citizen and eventually go to school here.
"The educational system in the U.S. is better and more open," said Shih's father, Simon, 55.
Critics call it "birth tourism" and the practice is solidly entrenched in the Los Angeles area, though so-called maternity homes catering to expectant mothers from East Asia are also advertised in the San Francisco Bay Area.
No one knows how many "birth tourists" visit this country each year.
In 2010, the mothers of 7,719 children born in the United States reported that they lived overseas, according to the National Center for Health Statistics – a figure up nearly 55 percent since 2000.
Critics say the data vastly understate the number, because they use information self-reported by parents during their hospital stays.
Jay Chang, who shuttles between Taipei and Los Angeles, serves as a consultant for nine maternity homes. Chang, 41, had his two children born through a maternity home over a decade ago. He argues that the practice is "in line with the spirit of the Constitution," adding that the U.S. government was "getting a good deal."
"We bring cash to pay for our births; we go back to our country to raise the child, and then he comes back to work and pay taxes to the U.S. government," Chang said in Mandarin during a phone interview from Los Angeles.
Jennifer Shih has followed a similar path, attending public schools in Taiwan until her parents decided it was time for her to return to the United States in 2004.
"She was already fluent in Chinese, so now she could move on to English," her father said. "Being bilingual will make her more competitive in the future."
Simon Shih made arrangements with a family friend in Idaho to temporarily raise his daughter.
With little fanfare, on the night of her junior high school graduation, she said goodbye to family and friends, and boarded a 13-hour flight to a place she described as a "foreign country."
"It was pretty scary," she said. "It was my first time flying by myself."
A growing industry
Pregnant women are driven to make the long and risky trip because of educational and job opportunities in the United States, Chang said. Some hope their children can help them emigrate later; once the children turn 21, they can petition the government to grant legal residency for their parents.
