Birth tourism fight shifts to US ‘tropical maternity ward’ with history of Chinese exploitation
The congressional fight over birthright citizenship shifted to the U.S. territories this week after the Supreme Court struck down President Donald Trump’s effort to deny citizenship to children born in...
By Fox News · Fox News
The congressional fight over birthright citizenship shifted to the U.S. territories this week after the Supreme Court struck down President Donald Trump’s effort to deny citizenship to children born in the United States to parents who are unlawfully or temporarily present. Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Va., said a Senate proposal as well as the overall birthright citizenship debate leaves untouched the five inhabited U.S. territories, where citizenship at birth was established by federal law rather than directly under the Fourteenth Amendment. "The ‘Barbara’ decision leaves open the door for Congressional action on citizenship in the American territories," Griffith said in introducing the End Birthright Citizenship for Territories Act, referring to the Supreme Court’s recent birthright citizenship ruling. BIRTH TOURISM CRACKDOWN EXPANDS AS HOUSE CHAIRMAN RAISES CRIMINAL CONSPIRACY CASE "Because of the current birthright laws in place in the territories, any child born in a U.S. territory minus American Samoa, regardless of a parent’s nationality, accesses U.S. citizenship automatically." Four of the five U.S. territories – the U.S. Virgin Islands , Puerto Rico, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) would be covered by Griffith’s bill. American Samoans are not automatically conferred U.S. citizenship upon birth. "This bill should stop the so-called ‘birth tourism’ that is taking place in the American territories," Griffith said. SEN ERIC SCHMITT SEEKS TO END BIRTH TOURISM, REVOKE CITIZENSHIP FOR BABIES OF FOREIGN DIPLOMATS Congress established birthright citizenship in most territories by statute, and Griffith argues it therefore has the authority to revise those laws. "Accordingly, I am leading the charge in Congress to rectify this problem, clarify U.S. citizenship laws in the territories and combat foreign nationals who are exploiting loopholes in our citizenship laws to take advantage of U.S. generosity." After the federal government assumed control of CNMI imm…