U.S. Border Control

Anchor babies: the Irish got it righ

By Stephany Gabbard and Frosty Wooldridge
Jul 27, 2004

Ireland is a microcosm of the United States with less ability to deal with the skyrocketing costs and the endless line of immigrant mothers birthing their children on Irish soil. It matters little whether a country is big or small, rich or poor. Given enough time, a nation cannot continue when its sovereign shores suffer an invading armada of humanity.

It was happening in Ireland. "Children born to foreign parents in Dublin maternity hospitals accounted for 25 per cent of total births this year," according to Declan Keane, Master of the National Maternity Hospital. "This number is causing major problems. We were stretched last year and the situation is even worse this year," Dr. Keane said. "We have more and more patients and no resources to hire extra staff to look after them. That means cutting corners. If you cut corners then safety is an issue." Dr. Keane further noted that very few immigrant parents are actually refugees or asylum-seekers but people who have come to the island of Ireland to have an Irish child with Irish citizenship.

Fianna Fail, Ireland's Republican Party, states on their web site that " 58 percent of all female asylum-seekers over the age of 16 arrive here pregnant." They list three main reasons non-nationals and illegal aliens abuse Irish immigration laws. First, deportation of non-national parents of an Irish child is more difficult. Secondly, non-national parents of Irish born infants can use their children's Irish citizenship as a back to door to other European Union nations. Lastly, and maybe most importantly, asylum seekers view having an Irish baby with full citizenship rights as very desirable. It's the ultimate prize.

It was common practice for non-EU member nationals, mostly from Nigeria, to come to Ireland claiming political asylum. Many came pregnant. AP writer Shawn Pogatchnik writes, "While asylum applications frequently take years to complete, until now the birth of a child has resolved matters conclusively--with Irish citizenship for the infant and residency rights for the mother, usually followed by arrivals of more relatives." By November 2001 asylum seekers had submitted 5,247 applications asking for permission to remain in the country on the basis of parenting an Irish citizen child. In 2002 residency was granted to 4000 asylum seekers based on giving birth to an Irish child, while another 10,462 remained outstanding. In March 2002 the government of Ireland stated it "would oppose granting residency rights to the parents of Irish-born children in two cases, and may seek a constitutional referendum to end birthright citizenship."

Ireland was experiencing the same abuse of their immigration laws as the United States. The difference is they chose to do something about it. In January 2003 the Irish Supreme Court ruled in a landmark decision that immigrant parents of an Irish born child could be deported. This was the first reversal of Ireland's liberal policy of granting residency and possibly citizenship to anyone who had a baby in Ireland, including illegal aliens. Deputy Prime Minister Mary Harney was encouraged by the courts decision, saying, "It will prevent others from coming to Ireland to abuse our asylum process on the basis that they are pregnant." Unfortunately the 2003 Supreme Court ruling didn't have the desired effect. Dr. Keane again stated the obvious, "The situation has not got any better, if anything it has got worse. There is no disincentive to coming here because no one has been deported. These women are still traveling."

In 2003, according to an article in the Economist, one in four of the 23,000 babies born in Dublin's three main maternity hospitals had a non-Irish mother. Non-EU nationals accounted for 82 percent of all foreign births. There was talk of the need to build a fourth maternity hospital. Clearly something needed to be done.

A poll was taken by the Irish Times in May 2004 on a citizenship referendum. It showed that 54 percent of the people were in favor, 24 percent against and 22 percent undecided. The poll made it clear the Government was in a strong position to succeed in its goal of restricting the automatic citizenship rights of children born in Ireland to those with at least one parent who had been a legal resident on the island for three of the previous four years.

In June 2004 the Irish people took action. They voted birthright citizenship out of existence. By an overwhelming majority the Citizenship Referendum passed. The tally was 79.17 percent Yes and 20.83 percent No. The Twenty Seventh-Amendment Bill of the Irish Constitution now reads:

1. Notwithstanding any other provision of this Constitution, a person born on the island of Ireland, which includes its islands and seas, who does not have, at the time of the birth of that person, at least one parent who is an Irish citizen or entitled to be an Irish citizen is not entitled to Irish citizenship or nationality, unless provided for by law.
2. This section shall not apply to persons born before the date of the enactment of this section.
   
   Ireland is a parliamentary democracy and they take democracy seriously. The Irish people ended the abuse of their citizenship laws. Of course they experienced the usual whining and complaining by liberal groups that did not want to see the referendum succeed, but they rose above it. They did the right thing for their country. They put Ireland and its people first.

As you can see Americans are not alone in this fight. This is happening to every First World nation. Ireland has become a destination country, just like America. The difference is they recognized their liberal immigration laws were being trashed and put a stop to it. Their politicians and judges had the political will to stand up to the assault on Irish sovereignty, unlike our pandering, invertebrate American politicians. I salute the few heroes we have in the US Congress like Tom Tancredo of Colorado and Rep. Goode of Virginia, but the spineless outnumber the courageous by a huge margin. Our government has turned its back on its own citizens. If America followed Ireland's lead and ended birthright citizenship, we would be removing a huge incentive that lures illegal aliens to this country.

Ireland was the last of the original 15 EU nations to abolish birthright citizenship, thereby effectively closing the back door to the European Union. No anchor babies plague Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom or Ireland.

Today, in America, over 300,000 anchor babies are born on U.S. soil annually, we stand as a nation under siege by those who have no respect for our laws and no regard for our sovereignty. Those mothers come here for a taxpayer funded free ride. The costs of this incursion steal the future away from American children. While the 600,000 new mothers and anchor children annually gain access to free medical access, schools, assisted housing, food stamps and other welfare--they create a nightmare for taxpayers. Americans must push for legislation that will end the flagrant abuse of the Fourteenth Amendment. If our legislators won't listen then we must vote them out of office. We cannot afford to do otherwise; our survival as a nation depends on it. Let's follow Ireland's lead. The Irish got it right!

Stephany Gabbard, RN, CLNC, (health@legal-nurseconsultant.com), is a Registered Nurse and Certified Legal Nurse Consultant specializing in disease prevention. She has worked in several County Jail Health Systems, witnessing first hand the effects of disease in the jail population.
Frosty Wooldridge, web site: (www.frostywooldridge.com) is a teacher, author and has bicycled 100,000 miles around the globe to see overpopulation up close and ugly.