>That requires that you can afford to buy a plane ticket and then spend nine months not working while paying US cost of living and pregnancy-related medical expenses out of pocket, which puts it out of reach for most people in the world.
Uh... It requires literally none of those things. You can get into the US on a car, train, boat, bicycle or a good pair of chanclas. You certainly don't need to be here nine months to have a kid. You can certainly find work in that time, and emergency medical care is "free". And while yes, it means more people, those people are a far cry from new immigrants and their numbers can still be limited federally. And regardless, with 12 million immigrants here already, the number of births won't be changing much any time soon.
I think you're rather missing the forest for the trees with the rest.
> You can get into the US on a car, train, boat, bicycle or a good pair of chanclas.
What does it buy you to trade one expensive ticket for another? I don't think you're seriously suggesting that walking here from even Central America is not a large impediment, to say nothing of the unconnected continents where the large majority of people actually live.
> You certainly don't need to be here nine months to have a kid.
The alternative is to get a travel visa when you're already pregnant, in which case the government can observe what you're attempting to do and deny the visa.
> You can certainly find work in that time
Working on a travel visa is illegal, therefore harder to do and lower paying.
> and emergency medical care is "free"
That implies going through a pregnancy with no access to non-emergency medical care (e.g. ultrasound), risking the life of the child.
> And while yes, it means more people, those people are a far cry from new immigrants and their numbers can still be limited federally.
Either you're increasing the number of unskilled immigrants or you aren't.
Uh... It requires literally none of those things. You can get into the US on a car, train, boat, bicycle or a good pair of chanclas. You certainly don't need to be here nine months to have a kid. You can certainly find work in that time, and emergency medical care is "free". And while yes, it means more people, those people are a far cry from new immigrants and their numbers can still be limited federally. And regardless, with 12 million immigrants here already, the number of births won't be changing much any time soon.
I think you're rather missing the forest for the trees with the rest.