A federal judge, U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman decided on Friday in Austin that the Texas office of Vital Statistics could temporarily continue to deny birth certificates to babies born in Texas, if their parents couldn't provide certain types of proof of identification. In the past, parents could show a foreign passport or immigrants from Mexico could show a matrícula, an ID card issued by the Mexican government, and their children born in the US would receive a birth certificate. Now Texas officials are saying the passport isn't good enough if they don't also have a visa, and the matrículas are being rejected. Undocumented immigrants have sued the state for denying these children their birth certificates, and the privileges that come with US birth certificates. A final court decision has not been made, and the immigrant group was hoping the judge would make the state of Texas issue birth certificates while the case is still being decided. Judge Pittman said he was very concerned about the situation of these children who can't get birth certificates, but the state officials said they needed to protect the Texas and US citizenship documents, and needed to be able to make sure that people's identity information is valid.
I personally think it's very disappointing because the kids being born here have the right to get a birth certificate. They are trying to make it harder and harder for these innocent people to become citizens of the U.S. In order to punish the parents they have to take away the privileges of the children. These children can't travel freely and some can't be baptized without birth certificates, so they are being discriminated against because their parents are undocumented immigrants. There a many little ways that the government is trying to chip away at the rights and the ability of the people to live here without full legal authority to be here.
I can't believe this sort of stubborn resistance to even give a child a birth certificate. It's ridiculous that so many people talk about children being the future of our world, but then refuse to give newborn babies the opportunity to become American citizens. The parents of these children most likely want to provide for their child in a better way than they could have in another country, and to deprive families of this is not exactly ensuring a brighter future.
ReplyDelete-Maddie Hanratty (comment#3)
I do not think that this is a solution to anything. Denying helpless babies birth certificates accomplishes nothing and violates many human rights. Immigration is certainly an issue, but this not the right way to go about it. The babies are being unfairly treated because they are easy targets, and this treatment should be stopped immediately.
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