The Misuse of the 14th Amendment

I have first-hand knowledge based on work I did for one of my clients.

I have been a state-licensed private investigator for more than thirty years. One of my long-term clients is in Taiwan. I was hired years ago to collect the medical records of women flying into California to give birth. That was a violation of the terms of their medical insurance but the women claimed they were here as tourists when they went into labor.

Most came about three weeks before they were due to give birth. Few, if any airlines, allow women to fly after they are seven months pregnant. Their trips were arranged by companies in China who would advise them how to dress so they did not look as pregnant as they were, arranged their flights, and where they would stay. It was also arranged for vans to pick them up for doctor appointments, and food delivery for the month they would remain here after delivery. I was told the companies making all the arrangements were paid $30,000.

Over the years I collected the records using a signed authorization. There were six Chinese obstetricians who the women used and several different hospitals in the Los Angeles area.

The doctor visits were once a week and most of the women only had two or three visits. One woman gave birth the day after she had her first visit. The doctors’ fees, regardless of the number of visits, averaged $2,500 and were paid in cash.

The hospital bills for a two-day stay was about $48,000. The women would sign a pledge of poverty and pay about $5,000. The state of California absorbed the rest of the fee. When they returned to China, their insurance companies reimbursed them for their doctor and hospital expenses.

Their “anchor babies” were immediately considered U.S. citizens and entitled to all rights, including social security. At eighteen, they can return and bring their families with them.

I made friends with Chinese women who worked in the doctor’s offices. They did not like the cheating on the hospital bills, because they knew they were the ones paying the bills with their taxes, and complained the women were always going shopping on Rodeo Drive, known for its high-end stores.

I handled more than eighty cases, but the insurance companies changed their policies when a woman underestimated her due date and gave birth on a plane that was diverted to Alaska. The woman was put on a plane back to China the following day, and the baby stayed there. The woman was then sent a bill for $33,000 for the cost of diverting the flight. I assume she went back for her child after she paid that bill.

“The 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution was intended to grant citizenship to formerly enslaved people, protect the civil rights of all citizens, and guarantee equal protection under the law. The amendment was ratified in 1868, two years after the Civil War.”

I don’t think the Founding Fathers imagined people would come here to take advantage of our government systems by giving birth and going back home.

Arguments against what President Trump is suggesting cherry-pick the verbiage they want from the original intent.

Susan Daniels is the author of The Rubbish Hauler’s Wife versus Barack Obama: A True Story, which is available at Amazon.com.