Guadalajara Reporter

"Camila" (not her real name) does not like the United States, and greatly prefers the people, food and culture of her native Mexico. Nevertheless, on December 22, 2002 she walked across the border near Tijuana into the United States where her relatives were waiting to take her to Pomona, California. Exactly one month later, she gave birth to a baby boy knowing that her child would have a significant advantage in the future - U.S. citizenship. Camila, a Tapatia, has no interest in moving to the United States herself. She paid for the top quality medical services she received, and has since moved from Rosarito in Baja California Norte back to Guadalajara.
"I did it for my child, to give him more options for school, work and to be prosperous in general," Camila explains. "I am going to enroll him in bilingual schools here so that he will be able to take full advantage of his U.S. citizenship."
Camila is just one of thousands of Mexicans who cross the border every year to give birth. Many sneak into the United States hoping to take advantage of superior public health facilities, but an increasing number are middle and upper class women who enter on tourist visas and pay for the medical care and simply want their children to have the benefits of U.S. citizenship: access to universities, better paying jobs, health care etcetera.
Many Mexicans living near the border obtain "laser" visas which allow the holder (after proving residence near the border and financial stability) to travel within the United States for three days in a 25-mile radius of the border. With a "laser" or tourist visa, pregnant Mexicans can easily cross the border and wait in nearby towns or with family in the United States until they go into labor.
Camila, a drama teacher, carefully researched hospitals looking for the best option. She found a facility in Pamona that featured a bilingual staff and gave her the best care imaginable. Some hospitals even compete for business from Mexican mothers because they usually pay up front in cash, avoiding the typical wait for insurance company reimbursement. Six miles from the border in Chula Vista, California 501 of the 2,067 babies born at Scripps Memorial Hospital last year were foreign nationals. In 2001, 663 Mexican women gave birth in hospitals in San Diego County, 627 of them paid out of their own pocket and 30 had their own insurance.
"I was thrilled by the kind of treatment they gave me. They even took good care of my husband," Camila recalled. "All of the equipment was much newer and in better condition and the nurses and doctors were more attentive than in the hospital that I visited in Tijuana during my first couple trimesters."
Camila did have her reservations about giving birth in the United States, but in the end followed the advice of her parents who thought U.S. citizenship would be best for the baby. "Now it will be difficult to get my child into Mexico's public schools because he was born in the United States. Also, I can't travel to the U.S. with my son because they will notice that he was born there and think I'm living and working there too," Camila says. "But in the end I think I did what was best for the future of my son."
Although eight months pregnant at the time, Camila was not questioned at all when crossing into California. Border agents are supposed to look out for pregnant women who may be crossing the border to give birth, but such screening has been low on the list of border concerns since 9/11.
"It is illegal for a Mexican or someone from any other country to enter the United States with a tourist visa with the intent of having their child in the country," says U.S. immigration officer Marisol Llamado. "It is fraud to ask for entry for tourist reasons when in reality they just want to get citizenship for the children. Our personnel are presumably looking for such women, but the truth is a potential terrorist or drug shipment getting through is a much greater issue."
The U.S. law that allows any child born on American soil to be a citizen is rare. Most countries use the nationality of the parents to determine a newborn's citizenship. In Spain, for example, authorities turn away expectant mothers from Morocco who cross the Straits of Gibraltar thinking their child will have Spanish citizenship. Due to the United States' history as an immigrant country citizenship laws were adapted to facilitate the growth of a new nation.

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