U.S. Targets Commercial Birth Tourism With New Visa Restrictions
Photo by Janko Ferlič
NEW YORK — The Trump administration announced a new visa restriction policy Wednesday targeting people whom the State Department says knowingly participate in or facilitate commercial “birth tourism” to the United States.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the policy would apply to owners, operators and managers of birth-tourism networks; visa “fixers” who coach applicants to commit visa fraud; foreign medical providers accused of knowingly facilitating such travel; and others who support commercial arrangements intended to secure U.S. citizenship for children born in the country.
The restrictions are being imposed under Section 212(a)(3)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which allows the government to deny entry to foreign nationals whose admission it determines could have potentially serious adverse consequences for U.S. foreign policy.
In a statement, Mr. Rubio said commercial birth-tourism networks market U.S. citizenship “for profit” and allegedly coach foreign nationals to make false statements on visa applications. He said some networks charge clients tens of thousands of dollars to arrange births in the United States.
“By restricting visa issuance of those who both engage in and profit from this fraud, we are sending a clear message: The United States will not allow foreigners to exploit our immigration system and violate the sanctity of U.S. citizenship,” Mr. Rubio said.
The State Department did not immediately provide details on when the policy would take effect, how many people could be affected, what evidence would be used to determine who is subject to the restrictions, or whether the policy applies to immigrant visas, nonimmigrant visas or both.
The department said certain family members of people covered by the policy could also face visa restrictions.
The announcement expands the administration’s broader effort to tighten immigration enforcement and increase scrutiny of visa applicants. The State Department already considers birth tourism an impermissible purpose for a visitor visa when the primary purpose of the trip is to give birth in the United States to obtain citizenship for a child.
Birth tourism generally refers to travel to the United States by a pregnant foreign national to give birth, with the expectation that the child will acquire U.S. citizenship at birth. The Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment has historically been understood to provide citizenship to people born in the United States, subject to limited exceptions.
Mr. Rubio said the new policy is intended to protect the integrity of U.S. citizenship, prevent misuse of public benefits and Medicaid, and safeguard national security. The department did not identify specific birth-tourism networks, countries or medical providers that would be affected by the restrictions.