It’s not unheard of for pregnant women from foreign countries to travel to the U.S. for the sole purpose of giving birth, seeking U.S. citizenship and a social security number for their unborn. The Center for Immigration Studies released a report in December of 2019 stating there may be 33,000 ‘birth tourists’ annually. Additionally, they estimated that in 2012, approximately 36,000 foreign-born women gave birth in the U.S. before leaving the country.
Now, along with the many immigration restrictions President Trump has implemented, birth tourism has finally made its way to the list.
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Trump has long been disturbed by the issue of birthright citizenship and has rallied against the practice with the threat to end it. With members of his administration saying it’s not so easy to do, he knows he has a few hurdles ahead of him.
Per NBCNews, two State Department officials with knowledge of the plans had the intent to publicize the rules Thursday and spoke to The Associated Press anonymously. In one draft of the regulations, pregnant women wanting to travel to the U.S. would need to convince a consular officer that they have another justifiable reason to head to the U.S.
As of right now, consular officers are not required to ask during visa interviews if a woman is currently pregnant or plans to become pregnant. This raises the question of how one would determine that a woman is pregnant to begin, and how they would justify denying her entry into the U.S. without that knowledge. However, it is their job to determine if the woman is traveling to the U.S. primarily to give birth.
Birth tourism is a profitable business in both the U.S. and abroad, with the majority of women traveling from China and Russia. American companies have been known to take out advertisements and charge up to $80,000, which includes hotel rooms and health care, in order to aid in the process.
A spokesman for the State Department commented that the draft rule is “intended to address the national security and law enforcement risk associated with the birth tourism industry.’
Coming to the U.S. to give birth is currently legal, and many women that are questioned are upfront and honest, even showing signed contracts with hospitals and doctors.