From The NYT:
The real problem with citizenship laws is not their manipulation by lawmakers or entrepreneurs, much less by mythical "anchor babies." The problem is more fundamental: the age-old, irrational linkage between citizenship and birthplace.... Kamal Sadiq, a political scientist at the University of California, Irvine, showed how bureaucrats in Malaysia, Indonesia and India have improperly denied birth certificates to children because they were born outside of hospitals or because their mothers were unmarried or were immigrants.... The problem is not bad science, poorly trained officials or even ethnic hatred. The problem is the dubious reliance on birth for assigning citizenship.

For the full story, please visit http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/18/opinion/citizenship-to-go.html.