By Sandhya Somashekhar Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, August 8, 2010

South Carolina Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R) says America faces a new and growing foreign threat: illegal immigrants and tourists who come to here for the express purpose of giving birth so their children obtain citizenship.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and other top Republicans quickly jumped on the issue and called for hearings.

The senators said their concerns arose from recent reports of a burgeoning “birth tourism” industry, which helps expectant mothers abroad travel to the United States to deliver their babies. They also said that birthright citizenship, which is granted by the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, could provide an incentive for people to enter the country illegally.

The sudden support cheered anti-immigration hard-liners who have been pushing to do away with birthright citizenship for years, but the senators face a problem: Few others want to take up the issue, and it is almost assuredly going nowhere.

Even some of the most vocal critics of the country’s permissive immigration laws are skeptical of the efforts, which they say are particularly emotionally charged because they affect children and families.

“We don’t think that it is worth the political capital to initiate a debate on this issue,” said Jon Feere, legal policy analyst for the Center for Immigration Studies, a think tank that backs stricter immigration policies. “The energy spent on ending birthright citizenship might be better spent reducing illegal immigration through a commitment to immigration law enforcement generally. If illegal immigration is ended, the problem of birthright citizenship for children of illegal aliens disappears.”

Nevertheless, raising the issue could prove beneficial to Graham and McCain, both of whom have rocky relationships with many of the conservatives whose support they’ll need to stay in office.

Graham has fallen out of favor with many in his party for working with Democrats on a host of issues, including immigration. He was just one of five Republicans to vote last week to confirm Elena Kagan for the Supreme Court, a decision that further raises the possibility that he will face a serious primary challenge when his term runs out in four years.

McCain’s concern is more immediate — he faces voters in a primary later this month and is on the ballot again in November.

“My organization would say there should be a change on the horizon, but not in the way Lindsey Graham is talking about it,” said Rosemary Jenks, director of governmental relations for the nonprofit NumbersUSA, the leading group opposed to birthright citizenship. “I do think it is political. . . . What we need is a serious discussion of the actual issues, not a lot of political ploys. ”

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