We had heard of illegal aliens coming across the U.S. border from Mexico just prior to giving birth so their children may claim U.S. citizenship. But it is apparently not only impoverished illegals from south of the border who take advantage of the constitutional loophole that grants citizenship to anyone born in this nation.
The plush Marmara Manhattan hotel in New York City advertises so-called "birth tourism" packages to foreign women who want their children to enjoy the rights and benefits of American citizenship. Expectant mothers pay thousands of dollars to stay at the hotel for a month. When they bear their children here, the children automatically become citizens, even if the parents have no intention of pursuing citizenship themselves. Among other things, the mothers' stays at the hotel include a cradle and gift set.
And New York isn't the only place this is happening.
In an ABC News article, one mother from Turkey said, "We found a company on the Internet and decided to go to Austin (Texas) for our child's birth. I don't want (my daughter) to deal with visa issues. American citizenship has so many advantages."
What's more, if that child eventually returns to the United States as an adult, citizenship entitles him to sponsor the legal immigration of the rest of his family to this country.
This is all apparently "legal." But that does not make it any less outrageous or manipulative of our system. America freely welcomes many visitors from around the world. But those who want to be citizens or want their offspring to be citizens ought to follow the normal immigration process.