Immigration think tank sees birthright citizenship as threat to U.S. security

A new Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) report examined the consequences of America’s liberal birthright (anchor baby) policy and found that the program may have national security implications. The study Entitled ‘Birthright Citizenship for the Children of Visitors: A National Security Problem in the Making?,’ provides original estimates on the number of annual births to temporary visitors, whether birth tourists, students, guest workers, or Mexican citizens with border-crossing privileges. The report suggests that this policy is a national security vulnerability and discusses how U.S.-born, but raised-abroad terrorists can (and have) used their citizenship against us. The Center for Immigration Studies key findings included;

• Nearly 200,000 children are estimated to have been born to women lawfully admitted as temporary visitors from all over the world in 2009. By comparison, according to other studies, more than 300,000 children are born each year to illegal aliens.
• Short-term visitors, including women who come as birth tourists expressly for the purpose of having a U.S.-citizen child, account for about 20 percent of these births (39,000). While most foreign tourists stay for two weeks or less, according to DHS statistics a large number of people who are admitted as tourists stay for periods of three months or more, including an estimated 780,000 women of child-bearing age.
• Another 20,000 annual births are estimated to young foreign women who are admitted as short-term residents, such as students, guest workers, exchange visitors, investors, and other categories that allow for multiple years of U.S. residence.
• The cohort that accounts for the largest number of births to foreign visitors is Mexican women who hold Border Crossing Cards (BCCs). An estimated 130,000 births are estimated from this group of women, who have virtually unrestricted access to U.S. cities and towns in the southwest border region. Because the identities of BCC holders are not checked upon entry and the exits are not tracked, the cards frequently are used fraudulently by imposters seeking illegal entry.

The report also concluded that these birth tourist children have become some of America’s biggest adversaries. The high-profile children include Anwar al Awlaki, a U.S.-born cleric who is now residing in Yemen and directing home-grown terrorist attacks against America; and Yaser Esam Hamdi, a U.S.-born enemy combatant captured in Afghanistan and released from Guantanamo to Saudi Arabia in 2004. CIS points out the common denominator with Al Awlaki and Hamdi is the fact they were both born in the United States to parents admitted as temporary residents on non-immigrant visas. These two men, however, were raised and radicalized in the Middle East. The birthright or anchor baby issue should weigh heavily on lawmakers who are trying to reform America’s immigration laws- failure to do so will only result in more home-grown terror attacks.