Trump’s next push to limit birthright citizenship could target pregnant tourists
The Supreme Court just days ago invalidated President Trump's attempt to restrict birthright citizenship. Top officials in the administration are now exploring alternative routes to limiting the Fourteenth Amendment’s birthright clause, following the Supreme Court’s ruling earlier this week.
The 19th reports that
"Markwayne Mullin, the head of President Donald Trump’s Department of Homeland Security, suggested on `Fox & Friends' . . . that this effort could include banning pregnant foreigners from traveling to the United States.
`There are tourist visas that they get to come into the United States or into our territories just simply to give birth; they’ll come in the eighth month, maybe one, two, three weeks left, give birth here,' Mullin said. He did not offer any evidence that the practice is widespread.
They `have a child who may move back to China, raise the person in a communist regime — even though they’re a citizen of the United States — and they come back over here, and in some cases, they go to universities, stealing intellectual property. It’s absolutely been a national security issue,' Mullin continued.
Mullin added that there was a `long conversation at the White House' . . . after the Supreme Court ruled in the birthright citizenship case. He met with Trump; Stephen Miller, a top adviser to the president and the architect of many of his far-right immigration policies; and Tom Homan, the president’s `border czar.'”
Politifact has found that "birth tourism exists, but is a tiny slice of annual U.S. births."