GOP CANDIDATES NEED
NEW IDEAS ON IMMIGRATION
WHO CAN CLOSE A DEAL?
INSTANT IMMIGRATION GUEST: Liz Peek, is a columnist for FoxNews.com and The Fiscal Times.
Immigration policy – and in particular what to do about the 11 million people in the U.S. illegally – is the new litmus test for the GOP. The arguments over “amnesty” and border security are stale, but the passions are not.
Scott Walker is only the latest candidate to stumble over the immigration tripwire. Though previously supportive of providing a path to citizenship for undocumented residents, now the Wisconsin governor is talking up border security. Advice to candidates: maybe it’s time for some new policy ideas, like demanding an end to our so-called “birthright citizenship.”
Among developed nations, only the U.S. and Canada still offer automatic citizenship to children born on their soil. Not a single European country follows the practice. We take this right for granted, but the evidence is that this entitlement encourages a booming birth tourism business (which undermines our immigration objectives) and virtually guarantees that the number of people in the country illegally will continue to grow.
Federal agents recently raided 37 sites in southern California, which appear to have provided thousands of Chinese women the chance to give birth to babies on U.S. soil in exchange for fees of up to $60,000. Enticements included not only the opportunity to acquire automatic citizenship for their children – a package of free schooling, food, health and retirement benefits potentially worth millions of dollars – but also more mundane attractions like nannies, trips to Disneyland and fancy restaurants.
The New York Times notes that affidavits filed by law enforcement authorities “quote Chinese government sources as reporting that Chinese nationals had 10,000 babies in the United States in 2012, up from 4,200 in 2008.”
For prosperous Chinese or residents of unstable countries like Russia, an American passport represents an invaluable safety net. Some estimate that as many as 40,000 children from all over the world are born under such circumstances in the U.S. each year. Over time, with family members climbing aboard, the total allowed into the country multiples.
READ: http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Columns/2015/03/11/Birthright-Citizenship-New-Immigration-Scam
BIO: Liz Peek spent over 20 years on Wall Street, most of them as a top-ranked research analyst. After managing her firm’s entrance into international research and foray into the market for U.S. equities in Japan, she became Wertheim & Company’s first female partner.
FOX COLUMNS: http://www.foxnews.com/archive/author/liz-peek/index.html
FT COLUMNS: http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Authors/P/Liz-Peek
TWITTER: @lizpeek
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