Birth Tourism Prevention Task Force established to prevent visa abuses

President Donald Trump, in conjunction with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, launched the Birth Tourism Prevention Task Force Aug. 6 to combat visa abuses after the recent Supreme Court decision upheld birthright citizenship.

“American citizenship is not for sale,” Rubio posted on X. “But elaborate birth tourism rings are profiting off the exploitation of America’s laws – coaching foreigners to defraud the U.S. visa system, arranging travel and housing, and even forging documents, all to enable foreign nationals to obtain citizenship for their children.”

The role of the task force, outlined on its website, is to review the activity of American visa holders worldwide and assess if their acquisition of a visa was an act of birth tourism. If so, the visa can be revoked.

Birth tourism is defined in Trump’s executive order as “the entry of any foreign national into the United States via a nonimmigrant visa for the purpose of giving birth on American soil; or any effort by any foreign national to facilitate the entry of any foreign national into the United States via a nonimmigrant visa for the purpose of giving birth on American soil.”

About 9% of children born in America every year are considered citizens under the 14^th Amendment even though their parents are not citizens, according to Pew Research findings. Trump v. Barbara, a June SCOTUS decision, upheld that birthright citizenship covers all children born in the U.S., regardless of parental citizenship status. Since this ruling, the president has been vocal about his disappointment and is attempting to limit the 14th Amendment’s coverage with this task force. Since the beginning of the initiative, 600 visas have already been revoked because of fraudulent acquisition.

The State Department’s website includes examples of people using extended business or shopping trips as excuses to enter the United States and stay long enough to give birth, securing citizenship for the child. The bestowed visas in those instances have since been revoked.

The Department of State did not reply to Heartlander News’ request for comment by the time of publication.