The Trump administration is expected to roll out a new rule as early as this week to stop what it calls “birth tourism”, the US media reported.
“Birth tourists” travel to foreign countries to give birth so that their children can receive the country’s citizenship.
President Trump has repeatedly railed against this legal mode of immigration guaranteed by the 14th amendment of the US Constitution, and in a highly competitive election year he is expected to enforce the new rule at the earliest. The administration is also expected to further intensify visa vetting process in the coming weeks.
"This change is intended to address the national security and law enforcement risks associated with birth tourism, including criminal activity associated with the birth tourism industry," a State Department official confirmed to the media. The plan was first report by the news website Axios.
It’s still not clear how the administration plans to enforce the new policy but there are experts who suggest it could be done through an Executive Order and need not have to go through the Congress for approval.
Last year, 19 people including a woman were indicted on charges of running “birth tourism”. Most of the “tourists” who come for this purpose are from China, Russia and Nigeria, according to the Associated Press.
A former Immigration and Customs Enforcement official has called the birthright citizenship a key "driver" of illegal immigration. He went on to suggest “birth tourism” was behind the surge of asylum applicants who arrived at the US southern border in 2019.
"They think it's their golden ticket to come to the United States," he told a US News Channel.
Officials have not provided a count of how many tourists travel to the US to give birth, but the Centre for Immigration Studies, a group that advocates restrictions on immigration, estimates this number to be around 33,000 every year.