22.6 miles and races for charity. charity. night. hello, i'm ray suarez. federal agents raided buildings in three southern californian counties, looking for pregnant women arriving from other countries with a goal to giving birth to an american citizen. if you make it to the united states, a newborn gets you a passport and social security number. it's a squirmish in the

immigration area. a place where it doesn't confir citizenship like it does here. it's "inside story." birth right citizenship. >> thousands of times an ear at the united states citizens go into labour. if all goes well, screaming and kicking, an american citizen takes their first breath. many get on a plane and go home, american citizen in their arms, clushed in the baby's fist. federal ates on tuesday raided 20 locations of women found in

the sweents from china, paying $15,000 to $50,000 to come to the united states to have their baby. >> what we are investigating is the allegations that the companies facilitate the women to commit visa fraud. it's not illegal it is illegal to lie about that during the application process, and when you are applying for admission to the united states. >> we are in a big fight yeen the white house. the wt announcing he was going to hughes his discretion to postpone the deportation of adults. the women who come as child both tourists knowing their children will have the right to live in united states and petition for mum and dad to live here legally.

>> it's very much part of a heated argument over who gets to live in the country. we'll begin the look on why people want to take a look. >> welcome to the programme. >> thank you. >> between 15 and 50,000, what is so important if you come from china, if give birth here? >> for a lot of people, it's an escape hatch. people are worried about in instability war, poverty, people are looking for an opportunity to better the lives of themselves and children. when the child is older what, is he or she able to do

that their chinese labour may not do. >> the child is in the united states as a citizen, with rights and drive ladies and gentlemens that are involved at that school and a u.s. passport allows people to travel freely. there's a lot of benefits. once the child becomes an adalt can they get or members into the country. yes, in a sense they can. u.s. citizens has to prove they have a chance to support their parents and that they are living in the united states. when weem come to you what have you told them? >> i have discouraged it. there's nothing illegal about

it. it's not wrong to come to the united states to have a child. for a lot of people it doesn't sit well. it's a little distasteful and contributes to stories like this, people that appear to by criminal conduct. so i try to discourage it unless there's a reason of family members of the united states. most people are looking for an escape hatch. lots of countries where there's instability and problems people want to know their kids will have a safe place to go. >> let's make a distinction

between someone that sneaks across the border, versus someone that comes with a fesa allowed in in the country. >> if someone from border control says hello ms chang. why are you here i'll coming to have a kid. >> that will be a level of that is lacking when people are doing that. it could lead to a turn around. the boarder inspector could say that you intend to live and work in the united states and that the visa is inval i had. we heard from a federal agent saying it's not illegal to have

a child. can you be overt. ois obvious you are in your third trimester, and someone says (witness does as requested did you visit now. you say i'd like to have a child. the interesting case is that these women were coached a lot. coached not to bring maternally close. so as to hide baby dump. it's not illegal to dom the united states to have a baby. disposing that will leave the customs inspector. they have power to make that just

and turn sun around. is $another way to proceed with this. do you say i'd like to have a kid. i'd like him to go - live and work in the united states. i don't want to go to a broker. it there a straight forward way to do that? explaining that to a counsel official is a sure way to be rejected, and that's why countries charge fees, they appear to be engaged in fraud. it's just with people coming to the united states for improper reasons >> you begin by talking about a safety hatch. in a complicated

world, will we see more of this? >> i don't know how to answer the question. i think it's something that has reached the news because of this one in southern california. generally we have not heard a lot about it. people doing it on their own is probably saying it is something that will occur less. >> thank you for meeting with us on "inside story". for much of american history, getting here, staying was less complicated than now. when we come back with more "inside story" after a break, we talk about the 14th amendment. what it means to re-examine the assumption that anyone born here gets auto mattic citizenship, and whether the abuse is enough

to reignite the provision. stay with us, it's "inside story".

welcome back to "inside story" on al jazeera america i'm ray suarez. in 1866 much of the american south formerly the states of the confederacy were in ruin from the civil war. millions of freed slaves whose old status was defined by the original language of the constitution had an undefined citizenship. the 13th amendment abolished slavery. the 14th amendment said:

huge implications and perhaps on whether or not you are legally if you have a kid while you are we continue in light of the raids in southern california, with peter should being, professor emeritus at the law, and director of the migration policy institutes office, the n.y.u. school of law. starting with you, in 1866 we had not entered the era of high

mass migration to the united states. when that section was drafted, did people anticipate that that is what this was going to mean, that anybody here was going to be a citizen? >> well, first of all, there'd been mass migration, but there were no restrictions on immigration at that time. in 1866 the congress passed the civil rights act, containing a similar provision. the amendment was adopted in 1868. i reviewed in connection with the book that i wrote that the legislative history of the provision, the phrase subject to the jurisdiction, what that meant. it's clear to me that the framers of the 14th amendment did not have undocumented immigrants in mind. they excluded, for example, the native men's who were certainly subject to the jurisdiction of

the united states, but were not intended to be made citizens sovereignty. >> has that been a good thing for the united states, after the late part of the 19th century when the supreme court affirmed birth ride citizenship. it's basically been the rule that a baby can give you a food hold. has that been a good thing for the united states? >> i think the 14th amendment has been a good thing for the united states, for the six reason that it's a defining thing about us in the community of nations. we make it clear the moment you are born we don't give you a disadvantage. there are other dilenties, but

at birth we don't gi you that. that is important in the interrogation in immigrants in the united states. >> and one that we day with at our peril. >> i think it's the thing that makes us distinct among other community of nations, if you look at countries in europe. you see people joined to a generation of people in those countries, and that creates a sense of alienation and discrimination proving to be close to members of the society. on balance, this is worked out for the united states because it makes things simple and straight forward. there's a small number of countries that give birth to citizenship.

it works out for us. >> it has, but that doesn't mean that the acquisition of this rule is in agreement with our values. the supreme court case held that the child born in the united states of ianees immigrants from the united states. they could confer sit senship. that is not true of unauthorised children with a child. there are advantages of the role as it is understand. it's an easy role to administer.

and facilitates facilitation by or into society and reduces the prospect of having an underclass which has been, for a long period of time, deprived of the rights for citizenship. is there a distinction to be made. someone that has a child in the united states, or gets a visa, declares themselves, versus someone who comes into the country across the sudden border and gives birth in a hospital in the south-west somewhere? >> there's a distinction about the 14th amendment and the

context of the facilities. the operating word was discouraged. in the last immigration area this was a scixish. we have 40 million people, that abuse this privilege. obviously, if you have all numbers on this, it suggests that the numbers of foreigners that come here - it's a small number of people. it could remain steady. you could make a distinction that people born in the united states, against those with a visa, that it makes a difference. it does not under the express language. and to change that we'll have to amend the 14th amendment. because a

few are abusing the process, is not worth taking the huge leap in our democracy. >> does the scale of the problem, and by consent it's a small number of women who do this, and the difference between being authorised to leave the country or not, make enough of a difference to monkey around with the law. >> depends what you mean by monkeying around with the law under the understanding of the jurisdiction cause congress has the power of those that are here. that would be different. whether it's worth doing is a hard

question. there's a lot to be said that the scale of the problem is not great. americans resent being gamed as this practice does, and it violates, by the nationalized citizens, they went through the hope in order to obtain citizenship. teems one that one can acquire law. >> we'll take a break and when we come back, we'll link this to the fight over president obama's stay with us. it's "inside story".

we're back with "inside story" from al jazeera america. i'm ray suarez. if you are born in australia - you don't get it. if you are born in ireland, the u.k. or france you don't get it either. birth right citizenship. the fact of being born on the soil of a country conferring citizenship rites.

we had it in the united states since the end of the civil war. leading to women coming in late to give birth, and the raids in southern california, trying to shut done businesses that entice chinese women from flying across the pacific. the for a fee, the women give birth, heading home with a passport and social security number for an american birth. is it time for a reexamination. my guests are with me. you heard the professor bofr the break talking about resentment that birth right citizenship brings up. is it worth it to clean to it at a time when we are trying to negotiate a universal settlement, an across the water front settlement that will regularise the status of people

deportation. >> i think keeping it because it's such a unique element of who we are as a body politic. i think it really is, for the size of the country that we are, it's important immigration tool. we have to paying a distinction between a criminal intertwice and make activities possible. that's a crime. that is different to amounting the constitution. so you have no problem with trying to shutdown the places in >>. >> i have no problem in shutting them. professor, you may have heard, i

am sure you did, that iowa congressman introduced a bill trying to recite that part of the statue that concerns citizenship. is it worth having a debate about what makes american. >> it's vutful it clarifies how we feel about values. we came up with a solution not involving immediatelying the constitution, but makes children whom we are discussing automatic birth right citizens buns they live here for a period of time, such as six years answereded schools, through the second or third grade.

that is a way of trying to harmon harmonize harmonizecommitment as a rule of law and recognising the advantages of a status of a significant number of people in our society. is there a virtue in not having a kid show up as a young adult after not having the united states there at all that's why my proposal requires the child to spend time here. it's reasonable. let's say that the person is 7-8 years old. he would be automatic and retro attic citizen. i cut you off.

go ahead. >> it's an interesting proposeal this only is in relation to unlawful people. these chinese people that come in lawfully, it does not apply to them. the others that take children whack with them. they go back and get studies and chinese universities, and coming back at the age of 18 as u.s. citizens, with no price to the taxpayer so from a cost benefit programme. >> you probably heard the president redo this assist gaming the system.

>> is that what it is if you show an up a couple of weeks to give birth. >> i have no problem calling it gaming the system. this sounds ol. so is buying u.s. residents by vesting economy. >> i'll have to stop you there. joining us from new york, california, good to talk to us both. thank you for joining us on this etedition of nds -- edition of "inside story". joins us on facebook twitter oe oemail. watch us next time. i'm ray suarez.

saudi arabia ends its military air strikes against houthi rebels in yemen saying a new phase to rebuild the country has begun. welcome to al jazeera. coming up in the next half hour from president to prisoner egypt's former leader mohammed morsye is sentenced to 20 years in jail the u.n. declares april the deadliest month for migrants trying to get to europe and a powerful storm battles