Different countries have different rules but I think that the US is in the minority. Most countries do not automatically confer citizenship on children born to foreign nationals regardless of their legal status. My suggestion is to not change the spirit of our generous law but only to prevent some misuse of it. By requiring the mother to be in the country legally at least, you eliminate the urge to instantly get pregnant that comes across many illegal women or to get on a plane and come for a “short” visit. I would really like to make the law even more restrictive so that the mother needs to be at least a permanent resident already or married to an American. The problem with these ANCHOR babies as they are called, is that entire extended families gain residency because of them. So, with one baby, we get the mother, father, other siblings, grandparents, and grandchildren as well. Once the grandparents are here, it is now easier to get their other children visas so we now have aunts, uncles, their children, etc.
I am somewhat familiar with the Arab view on citizenship having lived in Kuwait. I have discussed it in other posts where I mention it because I consider the Arab view on nationality to be one of the major contributors to the unrest in the Middle East. Only children born of Kuwaiti FATHERS are citizens of Kuwait. It doesn't matter where they are born, only that their acknowledged father is Kuwaiti. A child of a Kuwaiti woman and a non-Kuwaiti man would not be a Kuwaiti citizen.
Rich - it's funny that you should be offended by my comment on hijacking threads. Are you feeling guilty?
I thought your country championed free speech, sounds like it's only applicable when it suits!
Free speech is certainly welcome. I would even love to hear your opinion on the topic because your country is having similar problems. They're not as severe because, it's a lttle harder to cross the Channel than the Rio Grande or a few miles of desert, but if you want to engage in meaningless drivel, please do it elsewhere.
Originally Posted by FoFa
Maybe we need a special work visa, say renewable every 3 months, that lets them work and stay here.
Without enforcement, no one goes home. We already have similar programs. We have countless students who have over-stayed their visas. That's an easy way for people to enter the US legally. They just need to apply to and get accepted by an American college. No one even checks to see if they attend.
Back in 1986 (I think), our congress gave amnesty to almost 3 million people who had entered the country illegally. The American public really doesn't have the heart to send these poor people back to where they came from and the Congress promised to enforce immigration laws and that this would be the end of the problem. Well, here we are 20 years later and we see what rewarding those lawbreakers got us. DO NOT let your representatives do it again. Now we have 20 million people that no one has the heart to send home but the numbers have gotten so large that they are affecting the very fabric of American life. That’s why they are so much in the news these days. NAFTA was supposed to fix Mexico's problems so that Mexicans wouldn't cross our border illegally because they'd have living wage jobs at home. Well, NAFTA actually depressed wages in Mexico - what a surprise. So now we have CAFTA which will allow us to do the same thing in Central America, and the free trade bills for South America - I don't remember their names but they all have the same elements of NAFTA and CAFTA and they won't work any better.
I don’t have all the answers but we need to get our priorities in order and start enforcing our existing laws. Congress keeps scrambling to make new laws but I don’t understand why they can’t force enforcement of those we already have. I am absolutely against ANY guest worker program. We have to enforce our borders. We have to fine people who hire illegal aliens. In some cities they build day labor centers to make it easy for illegals to find work!! The IRS needs to identify illegal uses of SSNs. Identity theft should be a felony. But, I would not make illegally crossing the border a felony as one of the present bills suggests. I would rather make hiring illegal aliens a felony. If there are no jobs to be found here, they will go home and do what they should have done in the first place. Fix their own country. Don’t try to usurp ours just because we’re nice people.
If you don't want to be an American - Go home. If you want to be an American, you should be waiving an American flag, not a Mexican one!!