The Lion's Pride Volume 9 (January 2018) | Page 32

Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and China. While China is currently
fifth in rank on this list, its emigrants are comprising a huge chunk in the
number of immigrant women participating in what is known as birth
tourism. Birth tourism, its product commonly (but offensively) known as
anchor babies, is when foreign nationals travel here temporarily to give
birth to children, without any immediate intention of taking up
residence. . . The issue reveals some immigration myths. Birthright
citizenship isn’t unique to the United States. It’s typical for countries in
the Western Hemisphere to grant citizenship to any person born on their
soil. Birthright citizenship does, however, produce families that contain
both children who are Americans and parents who lack authorization to
live in the United States. It also creates policy questions about what to
do with those families (Barro).
Some Chinese women are able to enter the United States legally to
give birth, however many seek out the services of agencies that cater to
birth tourism. These agencies, often funded by criminal organizations,
arrange travel to California around the time that the pregnant woman
would give birth. Fees for these services average over $20,000, but are a
small fraction of the minimum $40,000 fine Chinese parents face if they
are caught in violation of their country’s “one-child policy” (Sheehan).
Birthright citizenship could potentially be the biggest factor
contributing to illegal immigration if all long-term benefits of being born
in the United States are considered. The most obvious benefit of