US President Donald Trump is again trying to limit birthright citizenship in the United States, just weeks after the Supreme Court rejected his previous attempt to repeal the right.
Trump yesterday signed two executive orders, including one that expands the categories of non-citizens whose children will not be eligible to receive US citizenship based on birth.
The second order bans so-called “birth tourism”, a practice in which pregnant women travel to the US to give birth, with the aim of their babies gaining American citizenship, writes the BBC .
“This should have happened many years ago, but now we’re dealing with this issue,” Trump declared, criticizing the Supreme Court’s decision that blocked his previous attempt to end this 150-year-old policy.
– YouTube www.youtube.com
Under the new order, automatic citizenship will not be granted to babies born in the US to two parents who are not US citizens if one of the parents is: a member of a foreign terrorist organization, an official of a foreign government, has attempted to obtain citizenship by fraud, or resides in US territories where citizenship is not guaranteed by federal law.
Citizenship by birth for people born in U.S. territories, such as Puerto Rico, is determined by federal law.
Trump and members of his administration have repeatedly criticized “eastern tourism,” claiming that US adversaries, including Russian and Chinese citizens, have exploited this right to infiltrate the United States.
During the presentation of executive orders in the Oval Office on Thursday, the American leader stated that hundreds of thousands of babies have been born in the US as a result of birth tourism.
The Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan research organization, estimates that, based on the most comprehensive analysis of the census, about 22,000 to 26,000 babies are born in the United States each year as a result of this practice. According to the institute, government data shows that in 2024, 9,600 births to mothers with foreign addresses were recorded. /Telegraph/