President Donald Trump signed two executive actions on Thursday to crack down on ‘birth tourism’ in the US and to restrict citizenship from being granted to the children of foreign diplomats.
Birth tourism is a practice where pregnant mothers travel to the states to give birth and ensure their children are granted US citizenship.
‘They’re buying their way in, and we’re not going to let it happen,’ Trump said in the Oval Office, announcing the new policies.
‘We’re making adjustments because it’s very unfair,’ the President said of the practice.
The executive orders, which will likely bring on legal challenges, are the President’s second attempt to alter the 14th Amendment’s guarantee that almost every child born in the US is automatically granted citizenship.
The Supreme Court struck down an effort in late June from the Trump administration to deny citizenship to children born to noncitizens within the US.
The President signed an order to end birthright citizenship for children of noncitizens on the first day of his second term.
‘We had a very unfortunate decision in the Supreme Court concerning birthright [citizenship]… so we’re making adjustments,’ Trump said.
‘They’re buying their way in, and we’re not going to let it happen,’ Trump said in the Oval Office, announcing the new policies
Senior Trump adviser Stephen Miller likened birth tourism to fraud during the Oval Office signing ceremony
Despite the gambit being throttled by the court, the Trump administration believes the decision makes room for some challenges to birthright citizenship, particularly as it pertains to children of diplomats and those traveling to the US expressly to have children in the states.
Since the 14th Amendment does not automatically grant citizenship to the children of foreign nations’ ambassadors born in the US, the new orders would expand that category to bar all children of foreign diplomats from being granted citizenship.
The amendment also does not apply to invading armies, so the Trump administration’s new policies would consider the children of individuals classified as enemy aliens, such as those belonging to federally recognized terrorist groups, as not being qualified for automatic citizenship.
Children born to mothers who traveled to the US explicitly for birth tourism would not be granted citizenship under the new executive orders because it would consider their entry to the states as fraudulent, given they applied for entry under a travel or work visa.
The orders also would restrict birthright citizenship for those born in US territories like Puerto Rico. However, a bill would need to pass through Congress to make this plan viable.
While a bill was introduced last month to address the issue of citizenship in US territories, the legislation would face a tough battle in both the House and Senate.
‘Birth tourism is, as of the signing of this order, hereby banned,’ senior Trump adviser Stephen Miller said at the Oval Office event.
‘And what that means is that no one in the world is any more allowed to obtain a visa for this fraudulent purpose.’
Activists hold signs condemning Trump’s move to end birthright citizenship outside of the US Supreme Court in May
The President attended the oral arguments in his birthright citizenship case in person earlier this year. It was the first time a President had sat for oral arguments
The first of the two orders would identify categories of noncitizen children who are not entitled to birthright citizenship consistent with historical exceptions recognized by the Supreme Court, an administration official said.
The second order delegates presidential authorities to the Secretaries of State and Homeland Security and directs them to halt the practice of birth tourism.
