Excerpted from Examiner.com Politics – Residents of a Southern California neighborhood are protesting against a suburban home that they say operates as a maternity center, where pregnant mothers pay thousands of dollars to live until they give birth to so-called “anchor babies.”
“Anchor baby” is a term for a child born in the United States to immigrant parents who, as an American citizen, can facilitate immigration for relatives.
Dozens of concerned citizens picketed a Chino Hills intersection on Saturday, holding signs that read “No Birth Tourism” and “Not Here! Not in USA!”
San Bernardino mayor, Patrick J. Morris told the San Bernardino Sun that rooms in the house have been rented out to pregnant Chinese women until they give birth. He doesn’t have a problem with that, apparently.
Protesters say they don’t want to see a business in a residential area, but this protest is really about subversion of immigration laws.
Pregnant women from China and other counties come to the U.S. legally on tourist visas, but their intention is to give birth in the United States so their children will automatically gain citizenship. Many feel that this is a “false pretense.”
City officials say they are handling code enforcement issues at the Chino Hills property, but they are not dealing with the alleged maternity operation. Again, a non-issue for officials at all levels.
California is not the only state with anchor baby houses, and there is no particular country that dominates this problem. Families from multiple countries use this method to get around US immigration laws.
In 2008, a total of 3.8 million unauthorized immigrants had at least one child who is an American citizen, and the problem has been investigated nationwide as the result of a claim made by U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham.
– Read more of this article by Susan Stallings at Examiner.com Politics.
