Actual Anchor Baby Operation Found In LA

An actual “anchor baby” operation was recently shut down outside of Los Angeles, California involving pregnant Chinese women who paid to receive pre- and post-natal care and have their babies born in the U.S. I can’t wait for this to catch on with the immigrant bashers.

The problem here, of course, is it really brings into focus the big difference between what happens when people move here to seek a better life, and then when they find work, have families — and the blatant intentions of some people who move here specifically to take advantage of birthright citizenship. The Los Angeles Times reports:

…maternity centers for Chinese women willing to pay handsomely to travel here to give birth to American citizens. Southern California has become a hub of so-called birthing tourism. Operators of such centers tend to try to blend in, attracting as little attention as possible.

Think about it — that’s quite different than what immigrants do when they come here without papers — yet manage to find people to break the law to hire them — and are able to make their lives here, which includes having children. What’s more, the people running this particular birthing operation broke all kinds of city building codes in the process.

I hope that this story isn’t turned into some sort of wild rationalization for the end of birthright citizenship, because as the good ol’ American saying goes, it’s just a few bad apples that spoil the whole bunch.

Follow Sara Inés Calderón on Twitter @SaraChicaD