Illegal Aliens, Anchor Babies, and the American Medical Crisis

By Linda Orlando

If you’ve never heard the term "anchor baby," then you need to. Here’s an example, outlined in the spring issue of the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons, that will boggle your mind. Cristobal Silverio entered the states illegally in 1997 to work as a fruit picker, bringing with him his wife and three children, all illegal aliens. The following year Mrs. Silverio gave birth to a fourth child, and with that birth the family had an "anchor baby"—an American citizen by birth, who provided the entire Silverio family with a free pass to remain in the United States permanently. Unfortunately the baby was born prematurely, spent three months in the neonatal incubator, and cost the San Joaquin Hospital more than $300,000. Meanwhile, the oldest Silverio daughter married an illegal alien and gave birth to her own anchor baby, and then Cristobal’s wife gave birth to yet another baby.

Anchor babies are United States citizens from the moment they’re born, and they instantly qualify for public welfare aid. And over 300,000 anchor babies become citizens each year in the United States thanks to the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and the State wherein they reside." The two Silverio anchor babies generate $1000 per month in public welfare funding for the family; the premature baby gets $600 a month for asthma, and the healthy baby gets $400. The Silverio family earned $18,000 last year for picking fruit, and the government gave them another $12,000 for their two anchor babies.

Most illegal aliens do not have medical insurance. But lack of medical insurance doesn’t mean they don’t get medical care when they need it. Because of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act of 1985, hospital emergency rooms are required by law to treat uninsured people without reimbursement whether or not they have insurance. As Cosman writes, "Anchor babies born to illegal aliens instantly qualify as citizens for welfare benefits and have caused enormous rises in Medicaid costs and stipends under Supplemental Security Income and Disability Income."

Although many Americans say that the United States benefits from the cheap labor that comes from south of the border, the increasing number of illegal aliens entering the country carries many hidden costs to our economy, such as uninsured medical costs and government support funds. Such costs are not only forcing the closure of hospitals and threatening to destroy the entire health care system of America, they are also risking the lives of Americans by bringing into the United States diseases for which no cure exists. According to Cosman, "many illegal aliens harbor fatal diseases that American medicine fought and vanquished long ago, such as drug-resistant tuberculosis, malaria, leprosy, plague, polio, dengue, and Chagas disease." People who emigrate to the U.S. legally are required to demonstrate that they are free of communicable diseases and drug addiction if they want to qualify for lawful permanent residency green cards. Illegal aliens only have to cross the border and have a baby, without any medical examination, and everyone in the family is automatically a United States citizen.

"The influx of illegal aliens has serious hidden medical consequences," according to Cosman. "We judge reality primarily by what we see. But what we do not see can be more dangerous, more expensive, and more deadly than what is seen." Cosman’s study discusses 84 California hospitals that have had to permanently close their doors as a direct result of the rising number of illegal aliens and their non-reimbursed tax on the American health care system. Over 50 hospitals in California have had to close during the past decade due to unpaid bills, and even more are expected to close in the next few years.

Despite the overwhelming problems illegal aliens are causing to our society, numerous organizations have been established to direct illegals into our medical systems and help them obtain free medical services. The Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, the National Immigration Law Center, the American Immigration Lawyers Association, the American Bar Association's Commission on Immigration Policy, Practice, and Pro Bono, the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, George Soros's Open Society Institute, the Migration Policy Institute, and the National Network for Immigration and Refugee Rights all work to establish and support rights for illegal aliens, even though aliens aren’t even citizens of the United States and therefore should not be entitled to the same rights the rest of us enjoy.

The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, as well as millions of American citizens, are losing patience with the American political system for allowing this abuse of our medical system to continue. Cosman’s article includes some strong suggestions for stopping the problem before it gets worse. America’s borders need to be securely closed with fences, high-tech security devices, and more border patrol agents or military personnel. All the anchor babies in the United States my have their automatic citizenship rescinded, along with their families. Amnesty programs for illegal aliens should be abolished, and organizations that support them should be censured or prosecuted for aiding and abetting the entry of illegal aliens into the United States. Unless strict measures such as these are implemented, and soon, The Land of the Free is going to become The Land of the Free For All.