WASHINGTON • President Donald Trump has opened a new front in his battle against immigration, barring the issuing of visas to pregnant women seeking to enter the US for so-called "birth tourism".
In announcing the move, which took effect yesterday, the White House on Thursday said foreigners were using the visas "to secure automatic and permanent American citizenship for their children by giving birth on American soil".
"The integrity of American citizenship must be protected," said White House spokesman Stephanie Grisham in a statement.
Temporary B-1 and B-2 visitor visas would no longer be issued to "aliens seeking to enter the United States for birth tourism".
Calling the practice "a glaring immigration loophole", the White House said the crackdown was for public safety and national security reasons, and to maintain the "integrity of our immigration system".
"The birth tourism industry threatens to overburden valuable hospital resources and is rife with criminal activity, as reflected in federal prosecutions," it said.
"Closing this glaring immigration loophole will combat these endemic abuses and ultimately protect the US from the national security risks created by this practice."
The statement added: "It will also defend American taxpayers from having their hard-earned dollars siphoned away to finance the direct and downstream costs associated with birth tourism."
The US Constitution guarantees automatic citizenship to anyone born on US soil. Mr Trump has made restricting illegal immigration a top priority of his administration and has threatened to abolish birthright citizenship.
Under the new rule, a US consular officer "shall deny a B non-immigrant visa to an alien who he or she has reason to believe intends to travel" to the US for the purpose of giving birth in the country.
But enforcing the new rule may prove problematic.
A State Department official said "consular officers have been directed not to ask all female applicants if they are pregnant or intend to become pregnant", adding: "Officers will not be allowed to require any sort of pregnancy test."
The official said it was estimated that thousands of children were born in the US each year to women who arrived in the country using B visas and the number was rising.
According to the Centre for Immigration Studies, there were 33,000 babies born from birth tourism between mid-2016 and mid-2017.
The total number of annual births in the US is around 3.8 million.
A year ago, law enforcement authorities announced they had broken up three networks which offered Chinese nationals the possibility of giving birth in California.
The State Department said some operators charge up to US$100,000 (S$135,000) to women seeking to give birth in the US.
The administration is also tightening rules on those wishing to enter the US for medical treatment, according to the BBC. It reported that visa applicants must now prove they have "the means and intent" to pay for their medical expenses, and convince a consular officer that they have arranged for a doctor willing to provide their treatment.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
