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New Report Combats Claim that Ending Birthright Citizenship would Cost Taxpayers Billions of Dollars

author Published by Chris Chmielenski

A new report from the Center for Immigration Studies repudiates claims made by a high-immigration group that ending Birthright Citizenship would cost U.S. taxpayers billions of dollars per year. Earlier this year, the National Foundation for American Policy released a new report alleging that ending Birthright Citizenship would create a new “baby tax” for all U.S. citizens, create a second-class society, decrease income tax revenues for the federal government, and cause children born to illegal aliens to become stateless.Jon Feere, a legal policy analyst for the Center for Immigration Studies, challenges every point set forth by the National Foundation for American Policy’s report and says, “supporters of the status quo understand that history is not on their side and have resorted to scare tactics to discourage discussion about the subject.”The following is a summary of the claims made by the National Foundation for American Policy followed by comments from Feere. To read the full report, visit the Center for Immigration Studies’ website.CLAIM: Not granting automatic citizenship to anyone and everyone born on U.S. soil “will cost new parents in the United States approximately $600 in government fees to prove the citizenship status of each baby and likely an additional $600 to $1,000 in legal fees.”Feere says that this estimate is based on the average cost to a U.S. citizen who gives birth overseas and must show  their own proof of citizenship to get citizenship for their newborn. But just because this cost is incurred by U.S. parents who give birth overseas doesn’t automatically translate to every parent who gives birth in the United States. Feere argues that when parents complete a request for a birth certificate in U.S. hospitals, they are not required to provide their own Social Security number on the form. If it were made mandatory that parents need to include their Social Security number, then a quick check by the hospital with the Social Security Administration to ensure the number matches the name of the parent and that the parent is either a U.S. citizen or permanent resident would ensure that citizenship is only given to newborns who qualify. The state’s vital statistics office could issue two types of birth certificates – one denoting U.S. citizenship and not denoting U.S. citizenship. Feere also notes that it is universally accepted that children born in the U.S. to foreign diplomats DO NOT receive U.S. citizenship, but because Social Security numbers could currently be requested for all children born in the U.S., there can be some future confusion when it comes to citizenship status for those individuals.CLAIM: Not granting citizenship to children born to illegal aliens would contribute to a growing population of illegal aliens.Feere argues that if immigration laws are enforced and illegal aliens are deported, they won’t give birth to children in the United States. The fact that this happens in the first place has nothing to do with our birthright citizenship law, but rather lack of enforcement at the federal level. CLAIM: Newborns born to illegal-alien parents will be stateless.Feere says this claim from the National Foundation for American Policy is flat-out false. Children born to illegal-alien parents in the United States are citizens of their parents’ home country. A child born to parents from Mexico will receive Mexican citizenship. CLAIM: Children of illegal-alien parents will work in an underground economy.Feere says the United States can prevent illegal-alien children from entering an underground economy in two ways. First, the federal government can enforce immigration laws and deport illegal aliens, and second, Congress can pass an E-Verify law, requiring all employers to use E-Verify and imposing heavy fines on companies that participate in an underground economy.Feere responds to several other claims made by the National Foundation for American Policy and also discusses the foundations and individuals that helped put the report together. For his full report, visit the Center for Immigration Studies’ website.  

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