The US State Department has created a new task force to target “birth tourism”, escalating the Trump administration’s efforts to restrict the practice of foreign nationals travelling to the United States to give birth.
The department announced the Birth Tourism Prevention Task Force on Tuesday, saying it would work with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to identify people involved in the practice and take action against them.
“As President Trump has made clear, citizenship is not a commodity to be acquired through the calculated exploitation of U.S. immigration laws,” the State Department said.
“The Department of State is working closely with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to combat birth tourism and protect the integrity of the U.S. immigration system.”
The task force will review visa holders worldwide, investigate cases involving birth tourism and seek to revoke the visas of individuals found to be participating in or facilitating the practice.
The State Department said it would also work to dismantle networks that profit from arranging trips for foreign nationals seeking to give birth in the US.
Officials said the department is combining information from its own records with data held by other federal agencies, including DHS, to identify visa holders suspected of planning to give birth in the country.
The department said more than 600 visas belonging to foreign nationals linked to birth tourism have already been revoked.
The initiative follows two executive orders signed by President Donald Trump on August 6 aimed at restricting birthright citizenship.
One of the orders, titled “Ending Birth Tourism”, directs the secretaries of State and Homeland Security to take steps to stop the practice.
The order defines birth tourism as a foreign national entering the US on a nonimmigrant visa specifically to give birth on American soil. It also covers attempts to help another foreign national enter the country for the same purpose.
Trump’s second order, “Continuing To Protect The Meaning And Value Of American Citizenship”, outlines categories of children whom the administration says should not automatically qualify for birthright citizenship.
The administration’s latest actions come after the Supreme Court on June 30 rejected Trump’s initial attempt to broadly restrict birthright citizenship, following legal challenges to his policy.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which brought a class-action case against the administration, has criticised the new executive orders.
The organisation urged a federal judge in New Hampshire, where its case was originally filed, “to make it unquestionably clear that the citizenship of babies covered by that class-action lawsuit is protected despite this new executive order.”
