Illegal Immigrants Account for 8% of U.S. Births

[Jeanfromfillmore]

Illegal Immigrants Account for 8% of U.S. Births
One in twelve babies born in the U.S. in 2008 were the offspring of illegal immigrants, according to a new study, a statistic that could inflame the debate over birthright citizenship.
Undocumented immigrants make up slightly more than 4% of the U.S. adult population. However, their babies represented twice that share, or 8%, of all births on U.S. soil in 2008, according to the nonpartisan Pew Research Center's report.
"Unauthorized immigrants are younger than the rest of the population, are more likely to be married and have higher fertility rates than the rest of the population," said Jeffrey Passel, a senior demographer at Pew in Washington, D.C.
The report, based on Census Bureau data and analysis of demographic characteristics of the undocumented population, also found that the lion's share, or 79%, of the 5.1 million children of illegal immigrants residing in the U.S. in 2009 were born in the U.S. and therefore citizens.
About 11 million undocumented immigrants live in the U.S. Latinos account for 75% of undocumented U.S. immigrants and about 85% of the births among that population.
Amid a heated national debate over illegal immigration, some Republican politicians have been calling for changes to the Constitution's 14th Amendment, which grants citizenship to "all persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof," in order to deny citizenship to children born in the U.S. to unlawful residents.
Late last month, South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham announced his support for reconsidering automatic U.S. citizenship for babies born to undocumented immigrants. He said the status quo enticed people to enter the country illegally and have children to qualify for U.S. benefits.
Under U.S. law, children have to wait until they reach the age of 21 before they can petition for permanent legal residency for their parents.
Recently, Mr. Graham's idea has been embraced by several other lawmakers, including Sens. John McCain and Jon Kyl of Arizona, where state legislators passed a controversial law to quash illegal immigration. A federal judge stayed major portions of the law on July 28, and Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer has appealed to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Legislation to amend birthright citizenship stalled when it was introduced in the past decade in the House. It would require a vote of two-thirds of the House and Senate, and would have to be ratified by three-fourths of state legislatures.
Proponents of amending the 14th Amendment, which was enacted in 1868, say it was intended to guarantee citizenship to freed slaves after the Civil War, not the offspring of illegal immigrants. Their proposals are expected to appeal to conservative Republican voters as immigration emerges as a central issue in November's elections. GOP opponents of repealing birthright citizenship say it undermines the party's electoral prospects among Hispanics, the nation's largest minority and fastest-growing group.
Mr. Passel said that the Pew analysis found that more than 80% of the undocumented immigrant mothers who gave birth in the U.S. had been in the country at least a year, and that many had been here about a decade.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...955803732.html

Illegal aliens more likely to have kids
WASHINGTON, Aug. 11 (UPI) -- While illegal immigrants are only 4 percent of the U.S. population, they produced 8 percent of the children born in 2008, a report released Wednesday said.
About 7 percent of children under 18 living in the United States have parents who are undocumented, the Pew Hispanic Center said. The vast majority of those children, 79 percent, were U.S.-born and entitled to citizenship.
The 14th Amendment, adopted after the Civil War to ensure the descendants of black slaves could not be denied citizenship, gives that right to anyone born within U.S. borders. Some immigration critics are now calling for repeal, arguing that people who enter the country illegally are deliberately having children in the hope that will increase their chance of staying.
Undocumented immigrants tend to have disproportionately more children because they tend to be young and to have larger families, the report said.
The report, "Unauthorized Immigrants and Their U.S.-born Children," is based on data from the U.S. Census March 2009 Current Population Survey.
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2010/...2811281563845/

340,000 babies born to US illegals in 2008: study
(AFP) – 2 hours ago
LOS ANGELES — Around 340,000 of the 4.3 million babies born in the United States in 2008 were the children of undocumented immigrants, a survey reported Wednesday.
The study from the Pew Hispanic Center comes amid growing calls amongst conservatives for the law to be amended to prevent the offspring of illegal workers from being granted automatic US citizenship.
Although unauthorized immigrants represent only four percent of the adult population in the United States, their children account for a much larger share of newborns (eight percent) and children under 18 (seven percent).
The Pew figures were gleaned from data gathered in the US Census Bureau's 2009 population survey as well as analysis of the demographic characteristics of the unauthorized immigrant population.
The Pew study shows nearly four-in-five (79 percent) of the 5.1 million children under the age of 18 (younger than age 18) to unauthorized immigrants were born in the United States and qualified as citizens.
The study comes amid increasing debate about whether the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution -- which grants citizenship to anyone born in the United States regardless of their parents' immigration status -- should be changed.
Prominent Republican Senator Lindsey Graham has been among the vocal advocates of changing the law, claiming in interviews that illegal immigrants were entering the United States solely to have babies in the country and gain citizenship for their offspring.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp...m2YGVgeXE2s__A