Readers React:  ‘Birth tourists’ shouldn’t be able buy U.S. citizenship for their babies

To the editor: Confronting the problem of birth tourism is long overdue. This scheme tailored to wealthy foreigners is a blatant form of illegal immigration, and I don’t understand why we’ve overlooked it, particularly at a time when we are searching for ways to deal with our immigration problems. (“‘Maternity tourism’ raids target California operations catering to Chinese,” March 3)

Your article states that efforts to outlaw the practice have been unsuccessful. Who are these lawmakers protecting? The crime is especially heinous because many of the families are leaving us taxpayers to pay their hospital bills.

As for the woman who shopped at the Rolex and Louis Vuitton stores but paid only a small portion of her medical costs, we must make it clear that she can buy all the scarves and watches she wants, but she cannot buy her baby U.S. citizenship.

Peggy Jo Abraham, Santa Monica

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To the editor: First, the 9/11 terrorists come to the United States on visas and orchestrate the killing of thousands. Now, Chinese nationals come here on visas to essentially rob our country by way of subsidized natal care and advantages in college applications for their offspring in the future.

Neither of these types of people contributed anything to the U.S. yet were allowed to come right in with the blessing of U.S. immigration officials.

So naturally, now more than ever, we really have to focus all our attention on those Mexicans and Central Americans coming across our southern border looking for work and who provide us Americans with low-cost produce, meat and services.

Miguel Rosales, Glendale

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To the editor: Droves of foreigners come to the U.S. to deliver their babies and give their children instant citizenship. Big surprise.

There is such an easy fix for this: We need to change the law and deny citizenship to anyone born here to a nonresident. The practice of “birth tourism” would come to an abrupt end.

Cheryl Krohn, Valley Glen

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