[jariel]

Quote:

The unassuming home at the top of the hill in an upscale Chino Hills, Calif., neighborhood has been operating as a "maternity mansion," charging women from China high prices to give birth in the United States, essentially buying American citizenship for their babies, according to neighbors who want the operation shut down.

An address found on AsiamChild.com, a Chinese language website advertising the American birthing experience to prospective mothers, matches with the Chino Hills residence. Packages on the site range from $5,000 to $15,000 and call the expenditure a "worthwhile investment" in order to have an American baby.

"We are trying to get the word out that we are not going to condone this type of behavior and allow this type of business to come into our family-oriented community," said Rossana Mitchell, a 22-year resident of the city and spokeswoman for Not In Chino Hills, a group that was formed in response to the "maternity mansion."

The 14th Amendment guarantees citizenship to all people born or naturalized in the United States.

Authorities in Chino Hills began looking into the residence several months ago, after neighbors feared the numerous, heavily pregnant women they saw filtering in and out of the seven bedroom home could be part of a human trafficking ring.

Last week, the City of Chino Hills issued the foreign-based owner of the home a cease-and-desist order for allegedly operating a hotel in a residential neighborhood, which is illegal, Los Angeles ABC station KABC-TV reported.

ABCNews.com was unable to reach owner Hai Yong Wu for comment.

The website includes tips for mothers on how to hide their pregnancies from U.S. customs officers, so they can receive a visitor's visa.

Pregnant mothers are advised to wear a dark T-shirt and use a large backpack to cover their stomachs, according to advice on the website. They are also told to not bring in any items specific to pregnant women and babies, in order to prevent suspicion.

Aside from citizenship, the website touts other perks American citizens enjoy, including free public education, better loan rates and social welfare during retirement.

"It's so blatant and from doing my research, this is an epidemic and it's nationwide," Mitchell said. "It's a way to buy citizenship. We don't want it here in Chino Hills."

http://gma.yahoo.com/maternity-mansion-l...ories.html

[polymath]

I am a child of immigrants and I know my roots so I usually am quick to defend immigrants, but this is terrible and a gross violation of the purpose of citizenship. These people are leeches and I wish they would stay in their own goddamn country instead of trying to gain the option of sapping benefits from mine. Fuck em.

[Samseau]

Giving citizenship to people born on American soil was a bad, bad, idea. Historians will cite this as one of the reasons American died.


The founding fathers should have done citizenship like the Romans did: You must have an American bloodline to get citizenship, or you must be naturalized into a citizen.


(Although, it's not like they could have forseen airplanes 200+ years ago.)

[Menace]

This is a well known scam (in China), but it is entirely legal. Ironically, many European nations, which are bastions of liberalism, do not automatically grant citizenship on the basis of birth alone.

However, on the grand scale of things that are wrong with immigration in the US, this Chinese pregnancy scheme is pretty minor.

[Tuthmosis]

(12-03-2012 03:52 PM)Samseau Wrote:  

Giving citizenship to people born on American soil Corporate personhood was a bad, bad, idea. Historians will cite this as one of the reasons American died.

Fixed it for you.

[Samseau]

(12-03-2012 04:33 PM)Tuthmosis Wrote:  

(12-03-2012 03:52 PM)Samseau Wrote:  

Giving citizenship to people born on American soil Corporate personhood was a bad, bad, idea. Historians will cite this as one of the reasons American died.

Fixed it for you.

I don't see how the two are mutually exclusive. Besides, hasn't corporate personhood been approved by more than one country?

[Walderschmidt]

(12-03-2012 05:12 PM)Samseau Wrote:  

I don't see how the two are mutually exclusive. Besides, hasn't corporate personhood been approved by more than one country?

What exactly is corporate personhood?

[Teddykgb]

I was down in Pleasanton, CA a few years back and my buddy who lived there was telling me that a house got busted for something similar to this just down the road from where he lived

[Menace]

(12-03-2012 05:33 PM)Walderschmidt Wrote:  

(12-03-2012 05:12 PM)Samseau Wrote:  

I don't see how the two are mutually exclusive. Besides, hasn't corporate personhood been approved by more than one country?

What exactly is corporate personhood?

It is the legal theory that corporations have all the same rights, especially 1st and 14th Amendment rights, as people.

Stems largely from the following Supreme Court case: Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad Company, 118 U.S. 394 (1886)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Clara...c_Railroad

This is kind of one of those things that everyone assumes is true, but the idea that corporations are people within the context of the Constitution is not all that clear cut (to me), nor was it even before the court. I'm frankly surprised this case has not been challenged in the courts in the same way the recent 2nd Amendment cases (Heller) have clarified the 2nd Amendment.

Anyway, this is probably more than what you wanted to know.

[DarkTriad]

(12-03-2012 03:52 PM)Samseau Wrote:  

Giving citizenship to people born on American soil was a bad, bad, idea. Historians will cite this as one of the reasons American died.


The founding fathers should have done citizenship like the Romans did: You must have an American bloodline to get citizenship, or you must be naturalized into a citizen.

I don't think you're giving the Founding Fathers enough credit. The did NOT put bloodline citizenship in the Constitution, and IIRC it's not actually in the 14 Amendment either, it was an act of Judicial Activism later.