US cracks down on increasing ‘birth tourism’
– President Donald Trump opened a new front in his battle against immigration on Thursday, barring the issuing of visas to pregnant women seeking to enter the US for so-called “birth tourism.”
In announcing the move, which takes effect Friday, the White House said foreigners were using the visas “to secure automatic and permanent American citizenship for their children by giving birth on American soil.”
Temporary B-1 and B-2 visitor visas would no longer be issued to “aliens seeking to enter the US for ‘birth tourism’,” the White House said.
It argued that the crackdown on “birth tourism” was for public safety and national security, as well as 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 White House said.
“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,” it said.
The official said it was estimated that thousands of children were born in the United States each year to women who arrived in the country using B visas and the number was rising.
– AFP