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Push starting against illegals
Mon, Nov 28, 2005
Law would change citizenship rule By HANK ROWLAND The Brunswick NewsRight now, a child born in the United States is automatically, by law, considered an American citizen, even if the parents are not.That would change under the Citizenship Reform Act, a law ardently supported and co-authored by U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston, R-1. No longer would citizenship be automatic under the proposed act."Although the numbers cannot be confirmed, it is estimated that over 300,000 illegal alien women arrive pregnant each year and their children immediately qualify for citizenship," Kingston said. "This means that American taxpayers are footing the bill for food, housing, medical expenses, and education for them up to age 18 in addition to paying for their mother, who is still considered an illegal alien."Their annual cost to taxpayers exceeds $109 billion, he said.But birthright is only part of the problem and only the beginning of what Kingston promises to be a comprehensive immigration reform package that will be debated by Congress in the coming months that will take aim at illegal immigration.By far the largest cost to taxpayers for undocumented aliens is in public school education. Georgia spent $231 million educating children whose parents were in the country illegally in 2002, the state education department estimates."Georgia's education system is ... experiencing problems related to mass immigration of illegal aliens," Kingston said. "Classrooms are crowded with students who don't speak English being taught by teachers who don't speak Spanish. Everyone suffers in the classroom, the teacher, the students born to illegal aliens, and the children of local taxpayers who are held back."What Kingston and other like-minded members of Congress are proposing are better controls on immigration. Individuals who are here illegally would be sent back, though some mechanism would be put in place to allow for their quick return once they applied through proper channels to come to the United States.Under current rules, undocumented aliens who voluntarily surrender to authorities are deported. They may apply for admission, but the process can be lengthy.Kingston said he is familiar with the argument that undocumented aliens often work in jobs that businesses and industries would otherwise have a difficult time filling."If you talk to employers, they say these people are very good workers and they want to have them in their labor pool," Kingston said. "That's fine, but we need to know who's here. They must be documented. "We've got to get our heads out of the sand. It's time we figured out this thing."
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