Letters: Giving birth to U.S. citizens -- then leaving

Re “On family plan,” Jan. 4

Can someone please explain to me how someone born in the U.S. to non-citizens is automatically deemed to be an American citizen? I looked up the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and Section I reads, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside.” As I read it, being born here then going back to China or wherever certainly does not make one “subject to the jurisdiction thereof.”

The 14th Amendment was adopted in 1868 and, along with the other Reconstruction Amendments, was intended to protect the civil rights of recently freed slaves, not to produce a never-ending stream of “anchor babies.”

Randle C. Sink

Huntington Beach

At least Dream Act students have spent most of their young lives here. They partake of American culture, pay taxes, speak English and generally contribute to the welfare of our country. This isn’t so for those whose mothers arrive in the U.S., give birth here then quickly return home. “Birth tourists” just manipulate our system to their benefit.

Next time you hear about community colleges cutting back, fees being raised and classes being harder to get, think of those who pay no taxes but want their kids to be first in line for the limited spaces in our schools. If we tolerate this abominable practice, we have only ourselves to blame.

Lee Marshall

Arcadia

I had to laugh when I read about the Chinese man who wanted his child born in the U.S. to have access to an American education that encourages creativity and is less like China’s exam-based system. He’s in for a surprise.

Kurt Page

Laguna Niguel

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