新浪尚文

　　一份8月11日公布的报告估计，非法移民2009年在美国生育的孩子人数已猛增至四百万，这一数字在2003年只有270万。

　　非党派团体皮拉拉美裔中心的数据称，非法移民所生子女占美国18岁以下孩子总数的百分之五点四。报告称，这一比例将会继续增加，仅在2008年就有34万非法移民的子女在美国出生，占美国当年出生的430万孩子总数的百分之八。

　　包括南卡罗来纳州共和党众议员格雷厄姆在内的一些议员正呼吁修改美国宪法第14修正案，该修正案规定，在美国出生的人士享有美国公民权。美国人口统计局称，美国本地居民所生孩子占出生孩子总数的比例已连续四十年呈下降趋势。在2008年，12.5%的美国人是出生在美国以外的地方，这接近十八世纪晚期近15%的最高比例。

　　要求限制移民的美国移民改革联盟发言人波布-达尼称，在美出生孩子自动获得美国公民权是吸引非法移民的一个主要因素。许多非法移民在寻找工作，其他的一些非法移民来美国的目的为是在美国生小孩，小孩将享有广泛的政府福利，最终还可以帮助父母获得公民权。他称这样的行为是“法制的腐败”。支持让一些非法移民成为公民的全国移民论坛执行主管阿里-诺拉尼称，取消非法移民所生孩子自动享有的公民权将是一个巨大的错误。他说：“这将使美国处于使种族隔离合法化的边缘。”

　　U.S. sees rise in children born to illegal immigrants 

　　The total number of children in the USA born to illegal immigrants on U.S. soil jumped to 4 million in 2009, up from 2.7 million in 2003, a report released Wednesday estimates。

　　Those children — who are automatically granted U.S. citizenship — represent 5.4% of all children under the age of 18 in the U.S. That compares to 3.7% six years earlier, according to data from the non-partisan Pew Hispanic Center. That percentage will continue rising, as an estimated 340,000 of the 4.3 million babies born in the U.S. in 2008 alone — about 8% — came from illegal immigrant parents, the report says。

　　The study comes as some legislators, including Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., are calling for a revision of the 14th Amendment that grants citizenship to anyone born in the United States。

　　The percentage of native-born people in the U.S. has fallen for four straight decades, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. In 2008, 12.5% of the population was born outside the U.S., nearing the all-time highs of nearly 15% in the late 1800s。

　　"The share of the population that is white non-Hispanic is going to drop," said Jeffrey Passel, senior demographer of the Pew Hispanic Center. "The percentage that consists of immigrants and their children is going to increase."

　　Bob Dane, a spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which wants lower levels of legal and illegal immigration, said automatic citizenship for children born in the U.S. is one of the main magnets for illegal immigration。

　　Dane said many illegal immigrants are searching for jobs. He said many others come here to have a baby who is entitled to a wide array of government benefits and can eventually help the parents become citizens as well. He calls the practice a "corruption of the rule of law."

　　Ali Noorani, executive director of the National Immigration Forum, which supports a process for some illegal immigrants to become citizens, said eliminating birthright citizenship for the children of illegal immigrants would be a colossal mistake。

　　"It puts the United States of America on the brink of legalizing apartheid," he said。

　　Noorani said some people have always fought for a change to the 14th Amendment's birthright clause, but he is shocked to see prominent members of Congress suddenly embrace it. He thinks the upcoming November elections are the reason。

　　"This is a pathetic attempt to gin up a (voting) base," he said. "This is political fear-mongering."

　　A poll conducted by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press found that 56% of Americans did not want to bar the children of illegal immigrants born in the U.S. from becoming citizens。

　　Of people who identified themselves as conservative Republicans, 55% supported a ban on birthright citizenship for the children of illegal immigrants, while 67% of self-described liberal Democrats opposed such a ban. The poll of 1,802 adults was conducted in June and had a margin of error of +/–3 percentage points。

　　The childbirth study was based on data from the Census, and the center analyzed demographic characteristics of the illegal immigrant population。

　　(今日美国)

　　(解雨)