Birth Tourism [Mark Krikorian]
Never heard of "birth tourism" before. I find hospitals offering "birth packages" to foreign mothers and tour companies offering birth tourism packages just wrong. I think we're being taken advantage of. People are acquiring citizenship for their kids strictly for future benefits for them.
First there was Korean birth tourism, where pregnant Korean women would come to the United States as tourists in order to ensure their babies were U.S. citizens. Then Tucson hospitals started offering "birth packages" to expectant Mexican mothers. And now, this:
With more Turkish parents wanting their child to be born in the US, tourism companies are starting to offer 'birth tourism' packages to US cities. Many women say giving birth in the US has benefits including cheaper education and fewer visa worries. Some Americans, however, want to restrict the practice, citing fears of illegal migration
Arrrrrrghhhhh! For many people, including some here at the Corner, the solution is to end automatic citizenship at birth, but I'm not a fan of that. The way we determine citizenship is simple and decentralized — we need to do a better job of tracking birth records to ensure they're legitimate, but if they are, that's all you need to demonstrate citizenship, so there's no need to petition a bureaucrat in Washington.
But . . . if you're going to keep automatic citizenship at birth, there are two things you can't do — wink at massive illegal immigration (almost one out of 10 births in the U.S. is to an illegal alien mother) and give visitor visas to pregnant women. Amazingly, our consular officers are not permitted to turn down a visa applicant simply because she'll soon give birth. That needs to change so that the default position is that women who might give birth during their temporary stay here should not be approved for visas. Otherwise, foreigners will be able to decide completely on their own who will and will not be a member of the American people.
corner.nationalreview.com
svherald.com
Hospital lures Mexican moms
Tucson Medical Center ‘birth package’ raises questions
By MARIANA ALVARADO
Arizona Daily Star
Published/Last Modified on Sunday, Jun 28, 2009 - 02:16:46 am MST
Print this story Email this story Font Size ShareThis
TUCSON (AP) — A Tucson hospital’s health-care package promises affluent Mexican women the chance to have their babies in posh surroundings with access to the latest medical equipment.
But the marketing materials leave out a key draw in the arrangement: U.S. citizenship for the newborn.
Tucson Medical Center’s “birth package” gives an official nod to a generations-old practice of wealthy Mexican women coming to U.S. hospitals to give birth. Mexican families do the same thing at all local hospitals, but Tucson Medical Center is the only one actively recruiting their business.
The practice is legal, but offensive to some advocates of tougher U.S. immigration standards.
“What it really amounts to,” said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, “is buying U.S. citizenship.”
“This is different from any other kind of medical treatment,” said Krikorian, whose Washington, D.C.-based think tank studies the impact of immigration on the United States. “If you come for cancer treatment there’s no consequence for the United States. You pay your money, you go home.”
The Mexican consul general in Tucson said parents naturally want to give their children every advantage and securing U.S. citizenship is something a small percentage of Mexican families can afford.
“This is not a new phenomena,” said Juan Manuel Calderon Jaimes, who says he’s seen the practice for almost 30 years. “Many families of means in Sonora send their wives here to give birth because they have the resources to pay for the services.”
Expectant mothers can either schedule a Caesarean section or arrive a few weeks before their due dates to give birth at TMC. It is one of 13 packages aimed at Mexican families, some of which include a stay at a local resort and shopping excursion.
Tucson Medical Center’s maternity package costs $2,300 for a vaginal birth with a two-day stay and $4,600 for a Caesarean section and a four-day stay, assuming no complications. That includes exams for the newborn and a massage for the new mother. There is a $500 surcharge per additional child.
“These are families with a lot of money, and some (women) arrive on private jets and are picked up by an ambulance and brought here,” said Shawn Page, TMC’s administrator of international services and relations. “These are families with a lot of clout.”
U.S. citizenship for their children brings even more clout: the opportunity — and right — to live, work and study in the United States. Because their parents do not earn the same right, many children of such arrangements grow up in Mexico and come here as adults for school and work.
The United States recognizes the jus soli doctrine, which grants citizenship to those born on U.S. soil. Like the U.S., Mexico honors the jus sanguinis doctrine, which grants citizenship to a child based on the citizenship of the parents regardless of where the birth occurs. So a child of Mexican parents born at TMC would have dual nationality.
Aside from the maternity package, TMC offers 12 packages for international patients, including bone density tests, mammograms and urology procedures.
Many pair pampering with medical care.
Earlier this month, TMC launched the Mujer Sana (Healthy Woman) Health Tour Package, targeted to women 50 or older. It includes six exams at the hospital and three days and two nights at a Tucson-area resort and a shopping spree.
The hospital partnered with the Metropolitan Tucson Convention & Visitors Bureau, and the program is marketed through the visitors bureau in Hermosillo, Sonora.
“TMC has generated a package dedicated exclusively to women, something Mexico hasn’t done,” said Miguel Angel Partida Ruiz, director of the bureau’s Sonora office.
He said the patients can bring their families and turn the trip into a mini-vacation. The Visitors Bureau has a contract with Super Shuttle to provide transportation.
Rocio Perez Medina, coordinator of “Vamos a Tucson” — the campaign to promote Tucson in Sonora — said the new TMC package is appealing.
Although a fixed price has not been set, the visitors bureau estimates the cost will be between $500 and $600, which includes the $150 exams at TMC.
Earlier this month, Perez Medina reviewed the results of the exams she took in order to sample the care patients would receive.
“It is very good, very thorough,” she said. The package can be purchased by one person or for groups of up to 10.
Aside from treating international patients and the local Spanish-speaking community, Page said, the goal of TMC’s international program is to reach out to U.S. citizens living in Canada or Mexico to come to Tucson for medical treatment.
South of the border, private hospitals are applying for international certification and partnering with U.S. insurance providers to cover medical costs.
Officials with the recently created Medical Tourism Cluster in Sonora say the cross-border patient phenomena illustrates the different niches.
“It’s good that Mexican patients go to Arizona,” said Hector Xavier Martinez, head of the Sonora Medical Tourism Cluster. “Hopefully, we can create agreements between private hospitals on both sides of the border.”
Next month, hospital officials will visit Tucson to promote Sonoran hospitals and the lower cost of medical procedures.
Among the hospitals that will participate are Hospital Cima Hermosillo, Grupo Medico San Jose, Clinica del Noroeste and Grupo Medico de Hermosillo.
Tourism representatives and bus and airline companies will also participate in the Tucson visit.
The cluster is also promoting the idea of building small clinics in tourist destinations such as Puerto Penasco, also known as Rocky Point.
Birth tourism in US on the rise for Turkish parents
Friday, March 12, 2010
Isil Egrikavuk
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News
With more Turkish parents wanting their child to be born in the US, tourism companies are starting to offer ‘birth tourism’ packages to US cities. Many women say giving birth in the US has benefits including cheaper education and fewer visa worries. Some Americans, however, want to restrict the practice, citing fears of illegal migration
If Bruce Springsteen’s 1982 hit “Born in the USA” were to become popular again, the title might now refer to thousands of Turkish children whose parents are increasingly traveling to the United States to give birth.
According to tourism expert Gürkan Boztepe and media sources, 12,000 Turkish children have been born in the U.S. since 2003.The numbers are significant enough to draw the attention of tourism companies and inspire them to pursue “birth tourism.”
“We found a company on the Internet and decided to go to Austin for our child’s birth,” said Selin Burcuoglu who gave birth to a daughter last year. “It was incredibly professional. They organized everything for me. I had no problem adjusting and I had an excellent birth,” she told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review.
Burcuoglu said she and her partner chose to have the birth in the U.S. to make their child’s life more comfortable. “I don’t want her to deal with visa issues – American citizenship has so many advantages.”
Birth tourism
Burcuoglu is not the only Turkish parent who wants her child to have U.S. citizenship. Many Turkish parents-to-be are now seeking tourism companies to “guarantee” their child’s life.
“We have been involved in medical tourism since 2002,” said Levent Bas, general manager of Gurib Tourism. “But we were also receiving so many demands about this issue that we decided to sell birth packages,” he told the Daily News.
“We first started our research in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago and Orlando and we only contacted Turkish doctors,” Bas said. “But we are preparing a package that covers everything from the flight and city tours to accommodation for several months and hospital expenses.”
In terms of cost, Bas said the minimum expense is $25,000, which rises to $40,000 if the destination is New York.
Birth tourism organizations are located throughout Turkey, including one run by Gürkan Boztepe in the Aegean province of Izmir. “Before, only celebrities gave birth in the U.S. We are now aiming, however, to make this service accessible to everyone. And surprisingly, our customers are not just from Izmir and Istanbul, there are also many people from smaller provinces, such as [southeastern] Gaziantep.”
Many families, however, do not want to talk openly about the process, according to the birth tourism operators. “Many people say they are doing it because they want their kids to get a cheaper education and not deal with visa issues when they grow up,” said Bas.
“But they don’t want to make it public. Even celebrities who have done this are trying to ignore the issue by saying they had to give birth in the U.S. because their doctors were there,” he said.
Arzu Geiger is an entrepreneur who lives in Gilbert, Arizona, and offers customers the option to stay in her home.
“We got the idea when a friend of ours wished to give birth in the U.S.,” she told the Daily News. “We realized that many women abroad may also wish to give birth in the U.S., but may have many concerns regarding arrangements or safety. Some women may choose to stay alone with us for the first few months, then move to separate living arrangements when family members arrive for the birth.”
While the small-scale companies have started investing in the birth market, bigger firms are also entering the market with alternative packages. The Turkish-owned Marmara Hotel group recently announced a birth tourism package that includes accommodation at their Manhattan branch.
“We hosted 15 families last year,” said Nur Ercan Magden, head manager of The Marmara Manhattan, adding that the cost was $45,000 each.
Law Amendment
According to the U.S.’s 14th Amendment, the country grants citizenship to anyone born on its soil. At the same time, however, many have demanded the elimination of the “ius soli” law.
"They come to this country and have babies. The children are citizens. The children are eligible to go to school. They receive food stamps and social programs. The American taxpayers are paying for it," said Republican Congressman Gary Miller last month, who is co-sponsoring a bill that seeks to abolish birthright citizenship for children born in the country to illegal immigrant parents.
According to Emre Özgü, a partner at law firm Barst Mukamal & Kleiner LLP in New York, people in favor of tightening immigration laws have been attempting to end “ius soli” citizenship for years.
“Those trying to restrict immigration argue these babies, who are occasionally called ‘anchor babies,’ serve as a key link in the ‘chain immigration’ process that they would like to see eliminated. However, there is no current pending legislation before Congress that would limit the claim to U.S. citizenship of a child born in the U.S.,” Özgü told the Daily News.
When asked whether birthright citizenship could be considered a loophole in the law, Özgü said he would not classify the “ius soli” citizenship as such because it is explicitly included within the U.S. Constitution.
“While it can be controversial, birth tourism is legal in the U.S.,” said Geiger. “Some of the major concerns expressed with birth tourism are that the mother and baby can access free health and social benefits at the expense of U.S. taxpayers. We do not accept customers in this manner – they are responsible for the payment of their own medical expenses.”
Bas, however, thinks U.S. authorities are ultimately unconcerned by the practice. “I think the United States is aware of such a law, otherwise they would prevent it. I think it is part of an integration policy. They want people to become American citizens.”
Other examples
Birth tourism to the U.S. is not just popular in Turkey but also in Asian countries such as South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan. According to a Los Angeles Times report, many South Korean parents-to-be have chosen to give birth in the U.S. for many reasons, ranging from a desire to enroll their children in American schools to enabling them to avoid South Korean military service.
The birthright citizenship formerly applied to other countries such as the United Kingdom and Australia but both countries modified their law in the mid-1980s.
India maintained such birthright law until 2004, but ended the right to prevent continued illegal immigration from neighbors Pakistan and Bangladesh.
hurriyetdailynews.com |
