WASHINGTON —President Donald Trump’s administration will step up its fight against so-called “birth tourism,” Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche said Wednesday.
The Supreme Court of Justice, with a conservative majority, confirmed on Tuesday the right to citizenship by birth.
The high court overturned an executive order by President Donald Trump in which, on the first day of his second term, he decreed that children born in the United States to parents “unlawfully or temporarily present” would not automatically become American citizens.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told reporters Wednesday that in light of that decision, authorities will continue to target foreign women seeking to give birth in the United States.
Booming industry
“From the Justice Department’s standpoint, we’re obviously focusing our prosecutors and our law enforcement partners on birth tourism, which is a booming industry and is going to continue to grow,” Blanche said at a news conference.
“There are other things that (…) the federal government can do in the visa process and the application process to minimize or limit the opportunity for people to come here (…) just to have their baby and then be a US citizen,” he added.
The Trump administration has used “birth tourism,” particularly from China, as an argument against birthright citizenship.
Babies with passport
Trump immediately condemned the ruling and called on the Republican-controlled Congress to help him pass one of his signature anti-immigration plans.
“The Supreme Court upheld birthright citizenship, which is a shame for our country, but we can easily make up for it in Congress through legislation,” he wrote on his Truth Social platform.
The president’s argument was that the United States has been experiencing what is known as “birth tourism” for decades, that is, foreign women give birth anywhere in the United States and then return to their country with a baby who has a US passport.
For the president, this is an abuse of the law by birth, in addition to inciting massive waves to take advantage of this benefit that many countries deny. Thousands of pregnant women enter the United States to give birth and then return to their countries. Years later, these children return to the United States to receive benefits without their parents being American citizens and without having contributed to the country and social security, becoming a burden on taxpayers.
In their ruling, the justices conclude that children born in the United States to parents “unlawfully or temporarily present” are nonetheless “natural-born citizens under the Fourteenth Amendment” of the Constitution.
The judges remember that this amendment, adopted in 1868, after the Civil War, served to guarantee the rights of freed slaves and their descendants.
Therefore, “children born in the United States to parents who are in the country illegally or temporarily are ‘subject to the jurisdiction’ of the United States and are citizens from birth,” they indicate.
Trump congratulates China after the ruling
In another message, Trump used a sarcastic tone: “I would like to congratulate President Xi and Greater China on their enormous victory over birthright citizenship,” he wrote.
The resolution recognizes that “children born in the United States to parents unlawfully or temporarily present are ‘subject to the jurisdiction,'” so “they are citizens from birth under the citizenship clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.”
The decision was adopted by five votes in favor and four against by the judges and maintains an interpretation of the Constitution that is more than 150 years old.
Dissenting opinions
Conservative Justice Clarence Thomas, the only African-American on the current Supreme Court, disagreed with the ruling.
After the Civil War that emancipated them, “blacks had the right to citizenship because they were Americans. They had no other homeland, they owed no allegiance to any foreign power and they were not subject to any other authority,” Thomas explained.
In his opinion, this is not the situation of foreigners who entered the country illegally and who, therefore, already have another citizenship that they can pass on to their baby.
The Supreme Court ruling represents a new setback for Trump. In February the justices invalidated most of his tariff policy.
Trump achieved, however, other victories, such as the end of temporary refugee status for hundreds of thousands of Haitians and the possibility that asylum claims could be rejected at the border.
SOURCE: With information from AFP and EFE
