Voice For Voters

By Elois Zeanah

What do President Obama and CA Gov. Schwarzenegger have in common?   They both support sanctuary cities, in violation of federal immigration laws; they both have an economic crisis on their hands; and they both issue IOUs.  Schwarzenegger could dent the California economic catastrophe colossally by signing an executive order that California would no longer be an outlaw state.  President Obama could stave off the stampede of taxdollars going to illegal aliens and save the Union by signing an executive order that banned federal funds to sanctuary cities.   But neither will because both put politics over policy and potential votes and campaign contributions over economic stability.  As a result, a California crisis is coming to your state.  Amnesty will only hasten the day.  Let’s briefly examine how illegal immigration contributed to the California crisis.  

Illegal Immigration is a “Catastrophic Hit” to California’s Budget[1]   

California’s budget deficit is $26.3 billion, and just three items that fund illegal immigration are responsible for nearly half this deficit.  $10.5 billion per year is spent on just education, medical care, and incarceration for illegal immigrants.  These costs do not include welfare costs such as public housing and rent assistance, food stamps, free education and school lunches, Medicaid, SSI, unemployment benefits, Earned Income Tax Credit, and more.  While illegal immigrants are barred by federal law from received welfare benefits, they can use their children born in the U.S. to evade laws and get them anyway.  This is why “anchor babies” are also called “jackpot babies”.    

Anchor Babies 

Babies born to parents in the U.S. illegally are called “anchor babies” because they automatically become citizens and immediately “anchor” their illegal families to free federal, state, and local benefits.  45% of anchor babies are born to unwed Mexican teenagers.  They get on welfare immediately and can stay on welfare for life.  Birthright citizenship is an irresistible magnet to get free benefits.  There are about 400,000 new anchor babies born every year in the United States.  10% of all births in the U.S. are to illegal aliens.  In Los Angeles, 25% of all births are anchor babies.  One anchor baby is born every five minutes.   

A bill, H.R. 1868 to ban automatic birthright citizenship was introduced this year in the House of Representatives to end this costly injustice to American taxpayers and to our economy.  Most other countries ban birthright citizenship because of security threats and because of unbearable costs which take invaluable resources and burden federal, state and local budgets and taxpayers.  It is shameful and a travesty that politicians refuse to follow the example of other countries to protect our nation and our economy.  The U.S. is the largest of only 33 countries in the world that grant automatic birthright citizenship to children of illegal aliens and temporary visitors, while 122 countries do not. (If you’d like to see a sampling of other countries who banned automatic birthright citizenship, see the article, “What Countries Ban Birthright Citizenship,” elsewhere on this website.) 

If Gov. Schwarzenegger and President Obama were really serious about shaving costs to solve economic woes, both would support H.R. 1868 and urge its immediate passage to stimulate their respective economies. The Birthright Citizenship Act of 2009 was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives in April to clarify the language/intent of “citizen” in the 14th Amendment to join other countries and stop the abuse of immigrants (illegal aliens and visitors on visas) who come to the United States to have children to give their children dual citizenship; to prevent them from entering military service in their countries; and to get free education, welfare, healthcare and other benefits paid for by U.S. taxpayers.    

Click http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-1868 to read the bill, who the sponsor and co-sponsors are, and what the status is.  If your U.S. Congressman has not co-sponsored this legislation, please call his/her office and request that he/she do so.  

Welfare Magnet 

An L.A. Times article on July 10, 2009,[2] gives the example of an unemployed illegal Mexican immigrant who has birthed four of her five children in the United States.  Her four anchor babies “receive a total of about $650 each month from the state’s CalWorks program.  She also receives about $500 in federal food stamps and other vouchers” each month. 

Free benefits for children born in the United States is a welfare magnet as strong as jobs.  The problem has gotten so bad that twice as many illegal alien households receive U.S. welfare than citizen households.[3]   This should be encouragement enough for Gov. Schwarzenegger to sign an executive order that California will no longer violate federal laws and treat illegal residents the same as legal residents.  And the fact that taxpayers pay $90 billion every year on welfare for illegal for illegal aliens [4]should be an urgent reason for President Obama to sign an executive order to enforce the ban on outlaw sanctuary cities.  This one act alone would force California to trim its budget as nothing else would – and would stimulate the national economy in a way Obama’s$787 billion stimulus package cannot. Many states throughout the nation are facing bleak budgets and illegal immigration is a factor in all.