Friday, August 6, 2010

Anchor-Baby Debate: Adios, GOP

Posted By on Fri, Aug 6, 2010 at 1:15 PM

According to Sen. Lindsey Graham, pregnant women are running across the border and over the river to give birth.

It's apparent that the South Carolina Republican has never been pregnant, and should do his homework.

In Tucson, it's wealthy Mexican woman who cross the border, with a visa, to give birth at programs that market specifically to them. The morning daily wrote about the issue last year, specifically a marketing campaign at Tucson Medical Center that charges $2,300 for a vaginal birth and two-day stay, and $4,600 for a C-section—with a massage for mom and U.S. citizenship for the baby.

"This is not a new phenomena," Mexico's Consul General in Tucson, Juan Manuel Calderón Jaimes, was quoted as saying. "Many families of means in Sonora send their wives here to give birth because they have the resources to pay for the services."

Keep it up. A recent article in The Atlantic points out that more of this 14th Amendment talk could lead to the GOP losing more Hispanic voters. Read the article here:

What they should fear is the wrath of Hispanic voters. The largest minority population in the country, Hispanics are also the fastest-growing. Polls show 4 in 5 Hispanic voters favor birthright citizenship, while Republicans largely oppose the idea. And Hispanics are quickly turning on the GOP for the party's perceived anti-immigrant rhetoric.

After comprehensive immigration reform efforts broke down during George W. Bush's second term, Hispanics began what could be an inexorable slide toward a permanent, and prominent, place in the Democratic coalition. Bush won 44 percent of the Hispanic vote in 2004; fewer than 1 in 3 Hispanics voted for McCain in 2008. Around the country, downballot Republicans performed even worse.