Immigration Alert: Birthright Citizenship Can Jeopardize U.S. Security

"Birth tourism" and other baby-delivery schemes not only drive up U.S. immigrant numbers, but create a national-security threat, according to a new report that casts a shadow on last week's Census.

The 2010 Census found that births to immigrants are among the chief drivers of America's population growth (now pegged at 310 million). And not all those immigrant births are by conventional or legally admitted residents.

In "Birthright Citizenship for the Children of Visitors: A National Security Problem," the Center for Immigration Studies reports how an estimated 200,000 children were born in 2009 to "women lawfully admitted as temporary visitors from all over the world."

Of that figure, "Short-term visitors, including women who come as birth tourists expressly for the purpose of having a U.S.-citizen child, account for about 20 percent of these births (39,000).

"While most foreign tourists stay for two weeks or less, according to DHS statistics, a large number of people who are admitted as tourists stay for periods of three months or more, including an estimated 780,000 women of child-bearing age," the report stated.

"Another 20,000 annual births are estimated to young foreign women who are admitted as short-term residents, such as students, guestworkers, exchange visitors, investors and other categories that allow for multiple years of U.S. residence."

For an extreme example of how this scam works, click here.

The overarching objective, CIS says, is to obtain U.S. citizenship and use the babies as "anchors" to gain legal status for the extended family.

In some cases, the report argues, U.S. immigration policies are being subverted to give birth to "a national security vulnerability."

Detailing the threat, the report outlines how "U.S.-born but raised-abroad terrorists can (and have) used their citizenship against us."