Feel-good story turns sour. Wait for the Republicans to talk anchor babies again.
So if the baby is born in mid-air, can it be “anchored” in the US? How does that work?
She’s Taiwanese? From the reports I saw about it, I thought she was Chinese.
In any case, she was on a China Airlines plane, which is a Taiwanese airline. So shouldn’t the baby still technically be in Taiwan at the time of birth?
I think it just depends on whose air space you are in.
The fierceness of the reaction in cyberspace is astonishing. Relevant to us atogas is the bitterness towards double nationals. Suffice to say, while this article manifests a rather laughable fear of “Asian anchor babies” taking advantage of the educational system in the US, the Taiwanese demand this kid cannot take advantage of health system NHI or laobao, among others. Funny how that works.
BTW, I am also not sure how the nationality issue goes, but when I worked for a US airline, we were told a kid born on a plane would have free passage on our planes for life. That was the only advantage at the time, but this was before 911.
I think the article misses the reality of why Taiwanese want their children to have another passport: to escape China’s clutches. If you ask around, that was the same fear that drove tnousands to flee to Latin America and other not so desurable places as a stopover to the promised land of the US. Now as the “inevitable” reunion looms ahead again, we wull see this more and more as far as the coin goes.
As to China, we have the thousands of indentured slaves to Chinese mafia, snakehead business to Europe and US full speed ahead in spite of the economic gains. One alsovwonders why…but not for long. If their own people scape by the boatload, what about this island’s folks?
The plane landed in Alaska and she was given an Alaska birth certificate. On the basis of Alaskan law saying it didn’t matter that the birth occurred outside the US 12 mile territorial waters. The plane next landed in Alaska so on that basis the child was given an Alaskan birth certificate. So that means the child is considered to be born in Alaska. And last I heard Alaska is part of the United States so for sure she is an American citizen (or could apply to be one). Alaska would argue fiercely if the US govt does not grant the Child US citizenship as that would be considered a slight to Alaska.
American states wield a lot of power. And they don’t always like what the Fed tell them to do. The Alaskan authorities have already given her an Alaskan birth certificate. So that is the end of the story as far as her being eligible to US citizenship.
I thought Taiwanese don’t often do this? But one of my Taiwanese buds did this to get his daughter US citizenship. Had his wife live with buds in the USA about six months before her expected birth.
Maybe US law should change to where the parents (or one of them) has to have been living in the USA for five years before giving birth for the child to claim US citizenship. But that would run counter to the constitution. And be unfair to some babies. US born is US born. End of story.
Didn’t matter to Alaska whether the baby was born 50 miles out from the shore or 5000 miles out from its shores. The fact that it next landed in Alaska meant an Alaskan birth certificate. And that means the right to US citizenship.
This has been going on for years, mostly middle class who can’t afford to buy their way in. When the kids get to 21 they can sponsor the green card to the parents. I’ve known dual nationals
In Taiwan and they tend to get treated better with better pay, it’s a thing in Taiwan.
Not quite. Whenever ABCs who retain their Taiwanese household registration need some cheap meds or cannot come up with the cash for an American college, they suddenly find their way back. Taiwanese have a habit of socialising their problems and freeloading on any benefit wherever in the world they go. A civic attitude is not part of the Taiwanese mindset; why improve this island if you can just hop on a plane to America?
Koreans and Taiwanese used to be the biggest group of birth tourists until the Chinese started traveling more. Now the Chinese kind of dominate that industry.
I find it interesting that at a time when Europeans are getting mad at refugees entering the country to take advantage of generous welfare benefits, Americans are pissed off at kids of well-off Asians who will likely be a huge net contributor to tax revenue entering the country. If rich Chinese want to anchor their kid in the US and they end up buying a house in Arcadia, driving around in a Porche they bought from a local dealer, blowing their money on expensive clothes they picked up at South Coast Plaza, and buying a million boba teas in SGV, I don’t see that as a bad thing.
This particular incident is kind of embarrassing for Taiwanese officials, though, since Taiwan just got Visa Waiver status from the US a few years ago.
Oh, that is just SOP. I used to find if funny how Taiwanese came back to the island for everything ranging from dental care to finding a wife. They do double dip, all right, and that pisses offf the local working masses that can’t do the same. But the extra passport is mostly and firstly insurance: if the proverbial manure hits the fan, they are covered. Sure, might help their social status and give them a leg up in showbiz, but the original question remains: why do they do it? If they have the money, they do it, if they don’t, they find a way.
Remember the 70s and 80s when the Taiwanese shipped their male kids abroad alone so they wouldn’t be drafted and eventually fight as so they said they were doomed?
Why does the US grant nationality to children from a tourist mom when other countries do not?
This is where I’m stuck. Don’t get the logic behind this law.
Goes back to English common law. Where someone born in a kingdom became the subject of the king, excluding diplomats there on diplomatic business. Wasn’t set in stone until after the Civil War when the US government needed to guarantee that the newly freed black slaves could not be denied citizenship. And thus we have birthright citizenship enshrined in the US Constitution.
I recall reading in"Midnight’s Children" where Salman Rushdie told of how as a young boy he wanted to go down and go on the tours of US warships visiting Bombay, but was embarrassed by the number of hugely pregnant women who thought if their child was born on a US Navy ship it would be eligible for US citizenship; don’t know if their belief was true
The fucking idiot could have killed her baby or herself. What a monumental loser.
Here endeth the thread.
Yeah, it is definitely a thing. I saw an article about the “birth tourism” industry in the US. According to industry figures around 60,000 Chinese women traveled to the States to give birth in 2014. They didn’t give any numbers on Taiwanese, or whether Taiwanese were included within that 60,000, but I reckon it would be a significant number relative to Taiwan’s birth rate. The article mentions that those with more money can simply invest half a million US$ and get a green card that way.
Welcome to Maternity Hotel California - A full-service stay inside the Chinese birth tourism boom
Recently my wife received some rather unfriendly comments about her impending move to Australia. They weren’t directly insulting her but questioning why she would consider moving to Australia. What’s the benefit? It’s so expensive! The whole country has no economy except farming. You won’t find a job. It’s boring there. Etc etc. Lot’s of negativity.
I think the fierce reaction against this particular lady giving birth on the plane is obviously justified on the grounds that she put herself and her baby at risk (not to mention screwing so many passengers around with the flight’s diversion). But the story also highlights the fact that some Taiwanese are prepared to take extreme measures to get their kids a better nationality. Perhaps part of the anger stems from the embarrassment that this fact is in the international spotlight? After all, lots of Taiwanese women fly to California to give birth. And seeing that tens of thousands of Chinese women do it every year too it can’t simply be driven by fear of the ROC becoming a defunct political entity. Many of the Chinese “birth tourists” interviewed by the media say they want access to America’s education system. They also want clean air and the rule of law, and other trappings of developed society. Voting with your feet is a kind of democracy. What does it say about a society, or an education system, when many of the better off people decide to leave it?
USA still has this kind of business, or trump get rid of it?
“Business” in the sense that it’s still an ongoing problem - yes.
Then more rich Americans, moving wealth from Asia to USA.
Or sleeper cells from the CCP or Russian Federation. Or anchor babies that parents will manipulate into sponsoring mom, dad, brothers, sisters, and their cousin’s, brother’s, dog. We can play these games all day, but the crux of the matter is the blatant abuse of “birthright citizenship” of the U.S.