Birth by foreign parents skyrockets
Since January 2015 to September 2016, Saipan has been the birthplace of 715 babies born to foreign parents, according to the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp.’s Health & Vital Statistics Office.
Hospital records show that over 95 percent of these babies are born to parents of Chinese descent.
Of the 715 babies born to foreign parents, 692 are by Chinese parents, 15 are by Korean parents, five are Filipino, two are Japanese, and one is Russian, all born with blue passports.
These numbers have skyrocketed since the lifting of visa waivers for Chinese and Russian tourists in 2009. In 2009, only eight babies were born to Chinese parents. That number jumped to a staggering 282 in a span of just three years (2012) and now to the seemingly problematic number of 692.
It is, however, indistinguishable which of the parents have long been residing in the CNMI and which children are brought out of the CNMI by their parents.
Most airlines have a policy against allowing heavily pregnant women to travel. Most airlines allow women up to 32 weeks pregnant to board freely and only require a medical certificate at about 35 weeks into the pregnancy.
Sen. Teresita Santos (R-Rota), who chairs the Health and Welfare Committee, reserved comments on the matter as of this writing due to insufficient information.
“I would reserve comments at this time until I get further information and clarification with CHCC where they have all these…statistics. Only after obtaining all those relevant information will I provide my statement.”
CHCC CEO Esther Muña said the Commonwealth Health Center only follows what the law mandates.
She said that CHC obeys the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, a federal law that requires anyone coming to an emergency department to be stabilized and treated, regardless of status or ability to pay.
“CHCC policies have not changed over the years. CHCC has and will continue to follow federal mandates that grant patient rights and even rights to women in active labor,” said Muña.
Break out the numbers by non- U.S. country of citizenship of the mother; and, provide information on what portion of their hospital bill is paid by the new mother or baby’s parents, and how much is paid by taxpayer dollars – federal and local.
CW’s are making babies like rabbits to secure their insecurity for 2019! lol..Folks you didn’t see this coming? It happened since they started arriving here! Third world countries mentality. False marriages and many more! But guess what a reformation on benefits, birthrights is going down the drain with Trump in place! So make more for you ain’t getting more! More social burden for CNMI…and CNN welcome back to CNMI where Americas day truly begins and CW’s reign will end!
I wish the Saipan Tribune would stop publishing bigoted and misleading news stories.
No one is “born with a blue passport.” Any person born in the United States is a U.S. citizen by birth. That is not just the law, it is a fundamental constitutional right, created by the post-Civil War 14th Amendment and is very important to the preservation of and just a free nation. Those who want to mess with it do so from base instincts and all the wrong reasons: prejudice, hatred, and bigotry.
Passports are issued only upon proper application.
Whether babies born at CHC are the children of U.S. citizen parents or foreign parents is irrelevant to any legitimate concern. Only xenophobia (and conscious or unconscious pandering to it) makes this story front page material.
A baby born on U.S. soil to foreign parents, although born a U.S. citizen, if raised overseas, nevertheless needs to confirm their citizenship upon becoming an adult. Otherwise, it will be deemed abandoned. That is the law.
Also, numbers of babies born to foreign parents is NOT an indicator of the extent of so-called “birth tourism.” So long as mothers are paying their hospital and doctors bills, “birth tourism” is legitimately a concern of no one other than the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Let’s have some clear thinking and objective reasoning, not reckless inflammatory nonsense.
I disagree with some of your points. Jus Soli (birthright citizenship) is practiced mostly in the Western Hemisphere, and very rarely elsewhere. Which means that most of planet earth does not recognize this practice. Are you implying that all European, African and Asian nations are not “just and free?” That they are all bigoted and hateful because they choose a different immigration law? That would be inflammatory nonsense.
Also, this article raises other important questions, like these:
If most airlines restrict late-stage pregnant women from boarding, just how long are these immigrant mothers staying illegally on Saipan after their 45 day visa to give birth?
Are they prematurely inducing labor to meet a visa deadline? If so, is that ethical?
As long as Jus Soli is allowed here, we have to accept it. But it must be done within legal parameters. Otherwise, it leads to trouble.
Citizenship and immigration are two different things, although immigration can lead to citizenship under appropriate circumstances. Don’t confuse or conflate the two. As for the “important questions,” again, those questions are not properly or meaningful correlated to the lead-in to the article: the number of babies born to foreign parents at CHC. The article indulges an invidious classification.
“The article indulges an invidious classification”. Having read the article a few times looking for at least an aorta of invidious overtone, I simply cannot identify any missing link connecting the dots. Two things come to mind trying to place where you’re coming from. First, it must be personal greed by your making a lot of money catering to these pregnant women from the GREAT WALL. Advocating for their presence for the sole purpose of giving birth in a U.S. soil to obtain a passport in due course is something to reckon with on this tiny rock for a litany of legitimate reasons for our survival. As a transient person like yourself, you don’t give a crab what you will leave behind when it’s time for you to boot out after fattening up your pocket and leave the island. Indigenous people are here to stay may be forever. That’s the main point of contention here, when our opposing views conflicted out in which we all must realize and begin to understand one another. There is no room for antagonism.
That’s the trouble these days; people throw out words like bigoted and racist by creating innuendo even where one does not exist.
Really? Have you troubled yourself to consult a dictionary anytime recently? The word “bigot” refers to “one who is strongly partial to one’s own group, religion, race or politics and is intolerant of those who differ.” It is you who is engaged in innuendo — against the author of the comment, yours truly.
This is incorrect legal advice:
“A baby born on U.S. soil to foreign parents, although born a U.S. citizen, if raised overseas, nevertheless needs to confirm their citizenship upon becoming an adult. Otherwise, it will be deemed abandoned. That is the law.” (Emphasis added.)
No. There can be no such presumed “abandonment” of Fourteenth Amendment jus soli (“law of the soil”) citizenship. Once a natural-born citizen, always a citizen, unless formally renounced before a U.S. consular official — sometimes done to avoid U.S. taxation.
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal-considerations/us-citizenship-laws-policies/renunciation-of-citizenship.html
That is why local fears of “birth tourism” and “anchor babies” are so overblown. This is a federal issue, for DHS CBP and DHS ICE. The true reason why most of those parents seek elective birth in the United States is not for CNMI residence but for U.S. citizenship!
They want to give their children the right to live, study, and work in the world’s largest economy and a bastion of freedom. This is a strategic long-term goal, or a prospective future sanctuary and lifetime back-up plan, as it were.
http://lawandborder.com/advantages-of-us-naturalization-versus-keeping-chinese-citizenship/
Very few “birth tourists” with no other ties to the CNMI would have strong incentive to choose a few small, insular, rural communities in which to reside for life, where they can’t even own land, over all the other options open to them.
Even CNMI-born children of bona fide CW residents are moving to the mainland, and petitioning their parents to join them there.
The legally incorrect quotation about confirming U.S. citizenship at adulthood actually applies to U.S. citizens born abroad, where one or both of the parents are U.S. citizens. Such citizenship is known as jus sanguinis (“law of the blood”) citizenship.
https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/files/pressrelease/ChildCitizenshipAct_022701.pdf
Those foreign-born children are the ones whose U.S.-citizen parents need to ensure the children’s paperwork is in order, as is the case for parents anywhere seeking to preserve dual or multiple citizenship where legally permitted — including alien residents of the CNMI married to spouses of a third country.
Then upon adulthood, those children need to take appropriate measures to preserve their foreign citizenship. Some may not wish to follow up on dual citizenship, and keep their U.S. citizenship only — for instance, if seeking employment with the federal government.
But all those CNMI-born children of CW parents, now residing and growing up in parental homelands, can rest assured of their absolute right to eventually return “home” to the United States, no matter how many years or decades they choose to wait.
(Having certified copies of their CNMI birth certificate, and a valid U.S. passport, would certainly expedite things when they do decide to return.)
Do individuals born (foreign born parents) in an American carriers in international airspace are afforded the 14th Amendment of our constitution?
Saipan is threatened by money laundering now it’s baby laundering too?
I’m surprised that India, with its second most populated country in the world, is not taking advantage of this scheme, to avail themselves the opportunity, a stepping stone, for automatic citizenship. Not unexpected of the world’s most populated country to add a few of their numbers, staggering as it may be, on our soil.
USCIS what the heck are you people doing opening up the floodgate for Chinese babies invasion in to our tiny island? Is there anyone who is not alarmed by such a tremendous birth rate? The mere silence and inaction by the federal and local authorities is frightening, if the current trend is left unchecked. Within a short time from now, we will be hearing the red panic button blaring so loud you will find yourself trying to muffle up your ears.
Hey pafao,
Good post. I take beck almost everything I said about you. Mac
It definitely seems like one group is gaming the system. I would be curious to know the total births during that time period and then we could see just how bad the problem is at this time.
A good reporter would have provided that vital information.
One can estimate the total births including the local population to be around 900. And that the Chinese births to represent 75% of the total births on island. Chinese cranking out Anchor babies at a record rate.
Certainly something needs to be done to protect the indigenous culture and population.
Immigration officials at the airport have the prerogative to deny admittance to those pregnant ladies who seek to game the system.
Did mien Trumph build that great wall?
Your fader and moder did.
someone needs to investigate that u-save hotel behind nauru building. many pregnant chinese women just waiting to give birth
Parked it is. Mac
I was attending a funeral nobena in Garapan, and early evening, five pregnant Chinese ladies, with their Chinese ladies sponsors walked by, enjoying the early evening air. One Chamorro lady complained about this issue to someone. Regardless, these pregnant Chinese ladies are still walking around in the early evening hours in Garapan.
The other day I went up beach road and had to stop while four Chinese very pregnant ladies crossed the road with a Chinese female caretaker at either end. On the way back I had to stop again this time with 3 different women also carrying a full load and male Chinese tourguide leading them along. This is CRAZY! Tell me again why the Home Land Security people get paid the BIG $$?