“As far as I can tell, the U.S.A. is the only country out of 220 world-wide countries to allow this loophole, and has so for more than 200 years.”
Apparently not: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jus_soli#Specific_national_legislation . Birth tourists come to this country, too. Personally, I’m kind of envious of those who have dual citizenship - nice to have two countries from which you cannot legally be denied entry. Could definitely come in handy.
I thought the US didn’t allow dual citizenship, so I was surprised to hear that obama has it (I think he does, right?). Looks like that was the case until 1967 or 1980 court cases that struck it down. I bet if we still had that ban in place we would have fewer of these birthright citizenship cases.
I lived in south Texas in the 80s and it was common for women to come across the border, give birth, and then go back (or not). I know it’s only gotten much worse since then. I never liked the idea of our country being used in that way. Like everyone says, come in legally - don’t break our laws. Why is that so hard for the government to understand?