Midwife births raise questions about citizenship[TX]

AP ^ | 11 Feb 2009 | Christopher Sherman

[BGHater]

The citizenship of hundreds,possibly thousands, of people who insist they are Americans is being called into question because they were delivered by midwives near the U.S.-Mexico border. The federal government's doubts have arisen as many people in the border region try to meet a June 1 deadline to obtain U.S. passports so they can freely cross from one country to the other.

The people delivered by midwives have documents such as birth certificates and medical records. But the agency that grants passports is challenging the credibility of those papers,citing a history of some midwives fraudulently registering Mexican-born babies as American.

The passport applications being questioned include those of children of Mexican women who crossed the border to give birth in the United States,and even employees of the U.S.Customs and Border Protection agency who were born on the border and now work to protect it.

The government has "effectively reduced to second-class citizenship status an entire swath of passport applicants based solely on their being of Mexican or Latino descent and having been delivered by midwives in nonhospital settings in Southwestern border states," according to a federal lawsuit against the State Department filed last year in the border town of McAllen,about 120 miles south of Corpus Christi.

Immigration attorneys and the American Civil Liberties Union hope to have the case certified as a class action because they believe thousands of people could be affected, with most still living near the border.

Since 1960, 75 Texas midwives have been convicted of fraudulently registering Mexican-born babies as American. At one point, the government assembled a list of nearly 250 "suspicious" midwives but never explained what made them suspicious.

State Department spokesman Andy Laine declined to comment because of the litigation.The agency also declined to release statistics on passport application refusals.

[Gaffer]

The government has "effectively reduced to second-class citizenship status an entire swath of passport applicants based solely on their being of Mexican or Latino descent and having been delivered by midwives in nonhospital settings in Southwestern border states," according to a federal lawsuit against the State Department filed last year in the border town of McAllen,about 120 miles south of Corpus Christi

The government has done so because it has every reason to believe fraud has been perpetrated on a massive scale. There won't be any sympathies on this from me or any other real American that is concerned about illegal aliens and those of them that are even too lazy to cross the border to download their children like most do anyway.

[null and void]

Speaking of which, does anyone actually know where our president was born?

[DaveyB]

Speaking of which, does anyone actually know where our president was born?

That would be Kenya, but that is so last century to bring up what eligibility the constitution requires. It's all about change - oh and hope too!

[brytlea]

And of course, none of this would be an issue if the US govt simply required the mother to be in the country LEGALLY at the time of the birth.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Language, culture, borders ...

[Redbob]

"the government assembled a list of nearly 250 "suspicious" midwives but never explained what made them suspicious."

Could it have beens something like delivering hundreds of children on the same date?

[Redbob]

What effing wetback has a child by a midwife when Dallas’ Parkland Hospital has a whole wing reserved for them, no charge???