Prevent babies' citizenship, group says

Group wants illegal immigrants' `anchor' citizenship removed

Friday, April 07, 2006

KELLI HEWETT TAYLOR

News staff writer

The Alabama Federation of Republican Women wants to take away the citizenship of babies born to illegal immigrants in the United States, and the group is using baby dolls to make the point.

The members have dressed the dolls with handmade oil-cloth bibs proclaiming "$118 Billion Anchor Baby." The figure illustrates an estimate of the annual cost to provide government services, such as food, education and health care, to these families, according to the group's research.

Any child born on American soil is automatically a U.S. citizen under the 14th Amendment of the Constitution. To change that, a bill to amend the Constitution would have to pass by a two-thirds majority in the House and the Senate, and then be presented to the states for approval.

Those U.S.-born babies are sometimes called "anchors" for their role in securing an illegal immigrant family's stay in the country. However, the babies don't mean automatic citizenship for the parents.

"We did it because it's generally unknown that these anchor babies exist and what the economic impact is," said Elois Zeanah of the Alabama Federation of Republican Women, who helped create the project. "We feel this should be in the debates about illegal immigration."

Zeanah, a board member from the Tuscaloosa chapter, said the benefits afforded to the families of U.S.-born immigrant babies is "an irresistible lure" to their families, prompting many to sneak into the country. She said members are concerned that caring for those immigrant families comes at a cost to U.S. citizens in the form of health-care cuts.

Limiting citizenship would eliminate one incentive for pregnant women to come here illegally, she said.

More than half-a-dozen Berenguer Babies Lots To Love dolls have been distributed to newspapers and members of Congress as part of their protest. Zeanah said they are planning to distribute more, though the toy company has not been contacted to join the project.

Attempts to reach the toy company, J.C. Toys Group in Miami, were unsuccessful.

Some state immigrant advocates were surprised by the campaign.

"I'm very saddened to know fellow Alabamians - women, mothers - would think in these terms," said Isabel Rubio, executive director of the Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama, or HICA, an immigrant advocacy group. "This doesn't get at the heart of the problem. It seems like an effort to address one of the symptoms."

The baby campaign began earlier this year with the Tuscaloosa chapter's yearly political research project. Its research showed an estimated 350,000 babies are born to illegal immigrant parents each year, at a cost of about $118 billion a year in government services.

The statewide organization, which supported and helped fund the project, has more than two dozen chapters in Alabama. Members say health care service cuts for some Americans are occurring while little is done to limit services for illegal immigrant families with U.S.-born children.

"The concern is about preserving the quality of life for legal immigrants who have come here since the first of our immigrant nation," Zeanah said.

E-mail: ktaylor@bhamnews.com