Rick Perry: Illegal Immigrants Who Serve In The Military Deserve Citizenship

TPM ^ | August 20, 2011 | Evan McMorris-Santoro

[CharlyFord]

The last figure I heard for Parkland Hospital in Dallas was 40,000 anchor babies delivered per year. I've never seen any stats that break-out how many are born in hospitals or delivered by midwives.

The 'anchor baby' industry is primarily on the border. What I observed, while living there, was the Mexican women cross the border to have the baby, delivered by a midwife, and then return to Mexico with the little U.S. citizen.

Mexican women, normally, don't travel from Mexico to Dallas to have anchor babies. It's cheaper to buy signatures or counterfeit papers.

The 'anchor babies' born in Dallas are born to Illegals that live in Dallas. Mom just happened to live in Dallas when the baby was born. Normally, pregnant Mexican women don't travel all the way to Dallas just to have a baby there.

[Will88]

The 'anchor baby' industry is primarily on the border.

The births might be mostly on the border for mothers who waited to enter the US illegally until near time to deliver, but anchor babies are being born all over the US to mothers who entered illegally well before delivery, or before becoming pregnant. Some have had more than one anchor baby in the US.

[CharlyFord]

Any baby born to an illegal in the U.S. can be called an 'anchor baby'.

My problem is with the millions of Mexican women that enter the U.S. for a few days or, in some cases, hours, for the specific purpose of having the baby on U.S. soil and for no other reason.

Now, maybe we need a different combinations of words to communicate the concept. A baby born to an illegal in Seattle, in a hospital, is different than a baby born less than a mile from the Mexican Border in a midwife's home. Born there for the specific purpose of anchoring the family in the U.S.

Both types of babies are U.S. citizens. Both types of babies 'anchor' the family. One is for that specif purpose and none other. That type is 100% anchor baby. I really hope you can see the difference now.

[Razz Barry]

But in South Carolina Saturday, he said he supported a main tenet of that bill -- that illegal immigrants can earn their citizenship by serving honorably in the military.

How much less pay do illegals receive than the Americans serving along side them? What value does American Citizenship hold? It just seems to me, if illegals receive citizenship on top of their pay, Americans in service are being cheated.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

…………“According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services statistics, more than 70,000 members of the military have become naturalized citizens since September 2001, almost 10,000 of them abroad.

Sharon Scheidhauer, spokeswoman for USCIS'Orlando office, sees immigrants become naturalized citizens weekly in Central Florida.

It's a powerful and supremely meaningful moment in their lives, Scheidhauer said. And for those who become citizens while fighting for their country, she said, it has a particular meaning.

Eligibility requires a year of honorable service, lawful permanent residence and knowledge of the English language and American history. The agency waives its fee and expedites paperwork for the military.

"It's the least we can do for them, I think, when they're putting their lives on the line for our country” Scheidhauer said. Orlando soldier who just became citizen dies in Afghanistan