There are now new visa rules put in place by the Trump administration to restrict what is referred to as “birth tourism” — the practice of women traveling to the United States to secure automatic and permanent American citizenship for their children by giving birth on American soil. 

Applicants will now be denied a tourist visa unless they can prove they must come to the U.S. to give birth for medical reasons, and they have money to pay for it — not just because they want their child to have a passport.

White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said in a statement that “the State Department will no longer issue temporary visitor (B-1/B-2) visas to aliens seeking to enter the United States for “birth tourism.”

She noted that the new rule “is necessary to enhance public safety, national security, and the integrity of the U.S. immigration system.”

She further said that “the birth tourism industry threatens to overburden valuable hospital resources and is rife with criminal activity, as reflected in Federal prosecutions. Closing this glaring immigration loophole will combat these endemic abuses and ultimately protect the United States from the national security risks created by this practice.”

“It will also defend American taxpayers from having their hard-earned dollars siphoned away to finance the direct and downstream costs associated with birth tourism.  The integrity of American citizenship must be protected,” she added.

President Donald Trump has made immigration a central part of his administration.

Marcia Wright, Readers Bureau, Fellow

Edited by Jesus Chan

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