To read this article, not the lawbreaking parents who came to this country illegally and gave birth to American citizen children.

As the government's crackdown on illegal immigrant workers has intensified in recent months, so have the consequences for a large subgroup of U.S. citizens: American-born children of illegal immigrants.

Numbering at least 3.1 million, according to an analysis by the Urban Institute and the Pew Hispanic Center, such children range from teenagers steeped in iTunes and MySpace to toddlers just learning their ABCs.

Until recently, their parents' illegal status had limited impact on these children's lives, because, although every year hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants are detained attempting to cross the U.S. border, once they make it in, they are rarely caught.

But the increase in raids against companies employing illegal workers is beginning to change that.

In December, immigration agents descended on six meat-processing plants belonging to Swift & Co. and arrested 1,297 illegal workers. At one plant, in Worthington, Minn., the workers had at least 360 U.S.-born children and probably many more, according to a local pastor who raised money for them.

Similarly, of 361 workers arrested during a raid of the Michael Bianco Inc. manufacturing plant in New Bedford, Mass., last month, about 90 were the sole caregivers for one or more children in the United States, according to federal and state authorities.

On Thursday, a chubby-cheeked fifth-grader named Jessica Guncay joined the ranks of such children when immigration agents raided a Dixie Printing and Packaging Corp. plant in Baltimore, where her parents were working under false Social Security numbers.

During an interview in her home in Pikesville the next day, Jessica, 10, said that although she had known her Ecuadoran parents were in the country illegally, she never imagined they would be arrested.

"I feel sick inside," she mumbled, staring at her white sneakers.

Sorry, folks, but what makes this American citizen sick inside is the fact that the prss has more sympathy for the immigration criminals and their families than they do for the enforcement of the laws of the United States. The reality is that none of these folks should EVER be allowed to enter this country legally, as they have already shown flawed moral character by coming here and staying here in violation of our nation's immigration laws. And while it is sad -- even tragic-- that their law-breaking has a negative effect upon the lives of their children, let's place the blame right where it belongs -- upon the parents, not the government.

I've said it in the past, and I repeat it again -- if we cannot modify the Fourteenth Amendment to deny citizenship to the children of illegal aliens, then we need to pass a law terminating the parental rights of illegal alien parents and place the children for adoption. That will solve the anchor-baby problem once and for all.

Posted by: Greg at 10:31 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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