Blame the Babies

Wednesday 04 August 2010

by: Connie Schultz, t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed

They call them "anchor babies."

Not "God's children," you understand. There'll be no celebrating these infants as the joyful proof that each was "a baby, not a choice." These precious little faces will not be smiling from a right-to-life billboard any time soon.

No, these are bad babies, the ones born in America to undocumented immigrants. You may remember how Lou Dobbs, before he left CNN last year, used to call them "anchor babies" as a way to promote his dastardly version of America.

In Dobbs' world, hundreds of thousands of immigrant mothers, heavy with child, were navigating rivers and deserts, outwitting U.S. agents and dodging gun-wielding vigilantes so they could heave themselves upon America's shores and head for the nearest emergency room. Just in the nick of time, they'd deliver babies who would take their first breaths as Americans -- and later make their parents citizens, too.

Arizona state Sen. Russell Pearce -- chief sponsor of his state's controversial new immigration law, which recently was gutted by a federal judge -- loves the "anchor child" theory. Makes misogyny so much more palatable.

"They use it as a wedge," Pearce told Time magazine. "This is an orchestrated effort by them to come here and have children to gain access to the great welfare state we've created."

Or, as California anti-immigration activist Barbara Coe told the Los Angeles Times, "it's invasion by birth canal."

A Google search for "anchor babies" produces about 331,000 links. Scroll through them and you'll notice the epithet is increasingly free of quotation marks, which suggests the effort to dehumanize the smallest of humans is catching on.

Last week, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said he was thinking of introducing a constitutional amendment that would change the law that grants citizenship to immigrants' children born in America. He had such an interesting way of putting it, too:

"People come here to have babies," he said. "They come here to drop a child. It's called 'drop and leave.' To have a child in America, they cross the border, they go to the emergency room, have a child, and that child's automatically an American citizen. That shouldn't be the case. That attracts people here for all the wrong reasons."

I have lived for more than a half-century, and I have yet to meet a mother anywhere in the world who would describe the excruciating miracle of birth as "dropping" a baby. But let's face it: You can't go after a baby unless you take down the mother, too. Feels so American, in that far-righty kind of way.

There are numerous factual responses to this latest round of Hate the Immigrant.

Many studies show that the number of immigrants' children conceived to game the system is mighty small and that most parents cross the border for jobs and to reunite with families.

The Pew Hispanic Center reports that Mexican emigration to America has declined steadily -- from 605,000 in 2000 to 175,000 in 2008. To further shake the baby's rattle, Pew used 2008 Census Bureau data to estimate that undocumented immigrants are only 4 percent of our country's population and just 5.4 percent of our work force. Immigrants' children who were born in America make up a whopping 6.8 percent of elementary and secondary schools.

We also should review the pesky rules for immigrant parents' citizenship. Every immigrant's American child must turn 21 before sponsoring Mom or Dad. That's two decades plus one year before parents can even apply. If the parents haven't lived legally in the U.S. for at least the previous year, they have to go back to their home country and wait 10 years to try again.

Conservative, self-declared patriots insist that carrying a pregnancy to term is a woman's God-given obligation but then attempt to defile an entire population of innocent newborns as tools of trickery.

Deport these newborns! they say. Banish these babies!

What God are these people praying to? What version of Jesus have they conjured up to demonize innocent children?

No one chooses to be born in America.

But everyone who is has the constitutional right to call this country home.

Connie Schultz is a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for The Plain Dealer in Cleveland and an essayist for Parade magazine. To find out more about Connie Schultz (cschultz@plaind.com) and read her past columns, please visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

I know, it is unbelievable that people would even think this way, let alone put it out in public.

america should of invaded mexico and imperialized it...see our government could of lied and said "mexico has TMD" tacos of mass destruction,but actually the government wouldn't be really lying would they

the only problem with that is that SOMEONE Has to take care of those children, we generally turn to their parents as the first in that line

and how can the parents take care of the child without living alongside the child or at least in the same country,, ?


I am more a proponent of keeping families together, children are not self sustaining, I think the parent must first have a permanent tie to the US for the child to or else you either have to give special treatment to the parents or substandard care to that child who would have to have their parents removed

My child is of an immigrant too, and he is not allowed to be with us. I am a citizen, so she is a citizen, but if I Were not a citizen I would think she should be with one of us and have her citizenship tied to whereever we were citizen

not a bad idea, if I wasnt such an anti war type,,lol

There is no justification for baby hating.

Born here, citizen here, that is all folks.

you can't blame a baby for an adult wanting a better life can you?

Sure there is ... just give it a chance and you'll be hatin' on them li'l bebbychirrens your own self also too ...

I think it makes more sense for legal residence to be tied in with where your parent lives,,


If my home is in ohio, but I travel to california and have a baby, my residence is still in ohio, and so too should my childs legal residence

I think citizenship should follow the same logic


but thats just my opinion

originally born here citizen here fit that bill because the african americans having those children were residing and working here(forced to in fact, as opposed to chosing to ignore laws to do so)

your child is yours, unless you give it up for adoption, you have the primary responsibility for that child and that child should reside wherever you call and have made your HOME

of course, no more than I blame the child of a thief or a trespasser or a drug dealer, who finds their parent in prison , but I still dont think it logical to permit these parents to avoid legal prosecution and penalty because they have children,, its not meant as a legal pass around the laws

and because children arent self sufficient, their responsibilty is either tied to the parent or the state but should FIRST fall upon the parent just as their citizenship should

If your home is in France, and you give birth while you are here, take your child home to FRANCE or follow the laws to become a legal resident here so that your child can also be

There is also no justification for people to just have them and expect the rest of us to shoulder their responsibility.

No, don't blame the children, BLAME THE PARENTS!

If you can't afford to have kids DON'T MAKE THEM!

Nuff said???

Also although the Pro Life belief is a morally good belief but the people who spout it are self deluded idiots and religious zealots. Unchecked population growth is BAD! Making Abortions illegal only make it lucrative for organized crime to step in.

Part of Mexico's problem is the rate they spit children out. They breed like rats. Maybe all the violence there is a good thing. Maybe the rampant crime will thin down their numbers a lot.

Screw invading Mexico, we don't need to inherit their problems!

Again, none of above justifies baby hating.

Nor does any of it justify changing our constitution.

If you are born here, you are a citizen here and that is as it should be.

And I disagree. That system is being totally abused and like any other system needs an overhaul. There is no justification for people coming here intentionally to have children just to make it so they can stay here when legally they have no right to be here. This ideal we have to let children born of illegal immigrant parents stay out of a sense of Moral Rightness was dumped on us by Europeans. France as we speak right now is seeking to end their version of Anchor babies.

Sorry but if the parents have no legal reason to be here or are here intentionally by illegal means their kids have no right to be considered citizens and that is how it should be. Sorry but you are selling out OUR OWN childrens' birth right and that unto itself is wrong!

Hatred should not be allowed to govern our laws.

I think abuse of the law justifies changing the constitution, as it did in the past with african american citizens being mere property,,,,


but that is a matter for the public to decide

No it shouldn't but we must also view things in a practical manner too. Is unchecked immigration good for our nation in general? NO. Is allowing loopholes in a system so people can exploit them acceptable? NO. It is one thing when a child is orphaned. It is another when the parents are total deadbeat breeders.

Again it isn't the childrens' fault, it is the parents bringing them into this world.

Illegal immigrants are just like Cuckoo birds. They dump their offspring off on us to raise them while we take away from our own children. THAT IS WRONG TO US. I am sorry if children get caught in the middle of these battles BUT who is making the parents of these children take responsibility? The Catholic Church who encourages unchecked breeding?

The buck has to fall somewhere. It isn't the children where the buck has to fall...

So where does this all fall? Who is responsible for the mess? I have restrained myself from having kids. Am I responsible? Should I raise the children of poor illegal immigrants vicariously with my tax dollars?

I SAY NAY TO THAT!

They can stay together, in the parents home country. Give the baby a passport as an American Citizen and then can come back when their 18.

There are no buts about it, hatred should not make our laws.

First off, we do not end up supporting the babies anyway.

I don't remember seeing one welfare case with an "anchor baby" in it the whole time I worked the welfare cases here.

Reason is that the illegal parent or parents have to be making so little money to qualify for the mere 99 dollars they would get for the baby and most of them work.

And the income for an illegal is counted with no deductions that are allowed citizens when determining eligibility for these households.

The illegal cannot get any benefits and their income is counted penny for penny.

So this is another way to further a hatemongering agenda that isn't based on truth anyway.

Hatred always makes people look like fools.

Hateful fools at that.

Second of all, if you are born here, you should be a citizen here. If your parents would be deported, the baby will have to go with them, but they are citizens of this great nation none the less.

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