Republican Presidential Candidates Defend Immigration Plans Amid Criticisms on Practicality and Effectiveness

GOP presidential candidates, including Donald Trump and Ben Carson, have doubled down on their plans to curb illegal immigration, despite criticisms from fact-checkers and experts on the practicality and effectiveness of their proposals.

As the debate on immigration continues, key takeaways and statistics reveal the complexity of the issue. Trump's campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, claimed that there are 400,000 "anchor babies" born in the United States each year, although this number has been disputed by experts. Jeffrey Passel, a senior demographer at the Pew Research Center, estimates that the annual number of U.S. births to undocumented mothers is around 300,000.

Key Takeaways:

• Trump's immigration plan involves deporting undocumented immigrants and ending the right to citizenship by birth, which he claims is necessary for effective management.
• Lewandowski's characterization of all births to undocumented mothers as "anchor babies" is problematic, as the data do not show that every birth was for the purpose of tethering a family to American soil.
• Theresa Brown, director of immigration policy at the Bipartisan Policy Institute, suggests that most migrants come to the United States for economic reasons and opportunity, rather than for citizenship.
• Birthright citizenship is practiced in 33 countries, making the United States an anomaly, according to a list compiled by NumbersUSA.
• Ben Carson's claim that 56 percent of the US-Mexico border is not under control is rated Half True, as a 2011 Government Accountability Office report shows that the remaining portion of the border falls under categories that are "not acceptable for border security".

Statistics:

• Estimated annual U.S. births to undocumented mothers: 300,000 (Jeffrey Passel, Pew Research Center)
• Number of countries practicing birthright citizenship: 33 (NumbersUSA)
• Length of the US-Mexico border: almost 2,000 miles (according to the Government Accountability Office)
• Miles of the border under "operational control" in 2010: 873 miles (Government Accountability Office)
• Miles of the border not under "operational control" in 2010: 1,120 miles (Government Accountability Office)

Sources:

• Pew Research Center
• CNN's State of the Union
• ABC's This Week
• NumbersUSA
• Government Accountability Office Report
• Bipartisan Policy Institute
• Woodsrow Wilson International Center for Scholars