The birthright citizenship fight isn’t quite over
DOJ senior official Colin McDonald issued a department-wide memo directing federal prosecutors to prioritize investigations and criminal charges against people who travel to the United States under false pretenses to give birth. The potential charges include visa fraud, money laundering, identity theft, and wire fraud.
“The Department of Justice will zealously protect the sanctity of United States citizenship by investigating and prosecuting those who fraudulently exploit our immigration system,” McDonald wrote in the memo, which he posted publicly on social media.
That’s all very well and good when Republicans are in charge. But if Democrats win, faggetaboutit. Of course, that’s true of a lot of things.
In the past, the fraud has worked in this way:
Back in 2019, Chinese national Dongyuan Li ran a company called You Win USA Vacation Services, which helped pregnant Chinese women travel to the United States to give birth. Li claimed to have served more than 500 customers, charging each between $40,000 and $80,000, and she received $3 million in wire transfers from China over two years. Li coached clients to lie on visa applications and at U.S. consulate interviews in China, claiming a two-week stay while planning to stay up to three months, and trained them to conceal their pregnancies from customs officials. …
You Win USA marketed the service by promising children “13 years of free education,” “less pollution,” “an easier way for the whole family to immigrate to the United States,” and “priority for jobs in U.S. government, public companies, and large corporations.” Citizenship as a premium package, complete with step-by-step coaching on how to fool the U.S. government.
Li pleaded guilty to federal charges in 2019.
In the future, though, they might become more subtle about it.
During the present administration, the flow of illegal aliens into this country has been much reduced. This helps deal with one aspect of the problem – although again, that will change if Democrats get back in charge.
And then there’s Congress. I don’t think the amendment effort can possibly end up getting 3/4 of the states to support it. but it needs to be tried.
But really, if birth tourism is reduced greatly and if illegal immigration is much reduced as well, that would take care of the bulk of the problem. Thing is, it’s only a temporary fix.
Yesterday’s case is the new Roe. It will take decades to fix, but it eventually will.
I still can’t get over ACB. I think reading the dissents would have caused her to switch her vote. I’m afraid ACB is going to end up like John Paul Stevens or that guy from N.H.
It seems to me it used to be that consular officials were more like bankers lending money: the default response was always “no,” unless the borrower could prove that they had the ability (and the good character) to repay the money borrowed.
Nowadays those same consular officials view their jobs more as that of a customer service representative, or worse, like loan officers during the lead up to the 2008/2009 mortgage meltdown, being pressured from up above not to say “no,” as long as the borrower had a pulse. Not coincidentally, back then the government was pressuring lending institutions to especially make loans to favored minority constituencies.
Mrs. No Notes was a blank slate?
Another vetting fail?
Neo, read Jeff Childers’ Coffee & Covid column today. He thinks all signs point to Congress being able to pass a law defining “jurisdiction “ in a way that appeases 5 votes on SCOTUS.
Sounds plausible to me, and passing Save America Act would also be very useful.
ACB is compromised I believe ,but it always seemed odd she had to go to Haiti to adopt black kids,, have we run out of American black adoptees ?