WASHINGTON — New immigration measures. The Secretary of State of the United States, Marco Rubio, announced this Wednesday a new visa restriction policy to prevent so-called “birth tourism”, which consists of traveling to the country with the purpose of giving birth there so that the baby obtains US citizenship by birth.
“Today I announce a new visa restriction policy under Section 212(a)(3)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality Act,” said the head of US diplomacy in an official statement.
Rubio denounced the existence of foreign birth tourism networks that “have exploited the US immigration system to sell US citizenship for profit.”
“These networks advertise and advise foreign citizens to lie on US visa applications and collect tens of thousands of dollars in exchange for arranging births on US soil for the sole purpose of obtaining citizenship,” he said.
“Fraudulent use” of Medicaid
The senior official explained that this measure is aimed at “owners, operators and administrators of commercial networks facilitating maternity tourism, intermediaries who instruct applicants to commit fraud and foreign medical providers” who encourage “fraudulent use” of the ‘Medicaid’ health system.
Secretary Rubio defended that, with this decision, the Government sends “a clear message”: “The United States will not allow foreigners to exploit our immigration system or violate the inviolability of American citizenship.”
Trump has – on several occasions – linked citizenship tourism with “rich people from China” and “around the world” who, he claims, only want their children to obtain United States citizenship.
Rubio’s announcement comes hours before Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives in Washington for a state visit.
working group
Recently, the United States announced the formation of a new working group to prevent maternity tourism and revoked more than 600 visas for foreigners whom authorities linked to this practice.
The Department of State (DOS) is leading the effort to examine the activities of nonresident visa holders around the world to identify cases of pregnant women entering the United States as tourists and giving birth on U.S. soil.
The Working Group for the Prevention of Birth Tourism also focuses its efforts on establishing measures to revoke the visas of those who participate in this practice or facilitate it and to dismantle the networks that profit from this abuse, in a widespread practice that involves citizens of countries from all regions of the world.
SOURCE: With information from EFE
