Monica Rhor of the Associated Press offers an idiotic article entitled "Bill denying citizenship to U.S.-born babies would cost Texas". She's a member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists (link), and she appears to have let her ethnic identity get in the way of her ability to do fundamental economic analysis:

A Texas legislator wants to challenge the right to automatic U.S. citizenship for babies born to illegal immigrants, cutting them off from receiving state health and education benefits.

But the bill sponsored by State Rep. Leo Berman, R-Tyler, that would deny birthright citizenship to those children could end up putting a heavier financial burden on already-overwhelmed public hospitals, increase costs to local taxpayers and create a population of children who do not receive basic medical care or immunizations, state and local health officials said...

Quite a list of negatives she got there, didn't she? Of course, whether the sources said that first or whether it worked the other way around isn't clear. And, she seems to have forgotten about the overall goal of Berman's bill: to reduce illegal immigration to his state. Oddly enough, she doesn't figure reduce illegal immigration into her "analysis". She doesn't discuss why those hospitals are "already-overwhelmed", and to what an extent illegal immigration plays in their situation.

One of every four births at public hospitals in Houston, Dallas and Fort Worth are to illegal immigrant mothers, officials estimate. The mothers' obstetrics costs are covered through a special Medicaid program. As U.S. citizens, the babies qualify for Medicaid or CHIPS coverage.

If the infants are denied automatic citizenship, however, thousands might not qualify for state or federal reimbursement programs — saddling the public hospitals with the extra costs, said King Hillier, vice president of public policy and government relations with the Harris County Hospital District, which includes Houston. "They would further exacerbate the problem of the uninsured in the state."

Certainly, with illegal immigration at the current or at a higher level, there would be a cost associated with the effects of a lower immunization rate and similar. However, complaining about reduced federal reimbursement is at the least extremely short-sighted: it ignores the fact that that money has to come from somewhere. If Rhor and the District cares about saving money, they'll try to reduce illegal immigration, instead of offering an incentive by providing birthright citizenship.

Rhor also lies:

Birthright citizenship is guaranteed by the 14th Amendment, which was ratified in 1868.

The 14th has only been interpreted to grant birthright citizenship, and the original author of that clause didn't intend it to apply to "foreigners".