Pregnant women could soon face a ban from entering the United States under plans President Donald Trump is now considering, following a Supreme Court decision that struck down his executive order on birthright citizenship.
The Trump administration has long argued that birthright citizenship—the constitutional right that grants citizenship to all babies born in the US—encourages illegal immigration and rewards those who circumvent immigration laws.
Stephen Miller, a senior adviser to the president, said the White House would examine "a hard look" at blocking pregnant foreign nationals from travelling to America, according to reports.
The White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and Homeland Security explained the administration's thinking on the matter. "You have to now think very carefully about who you let into your country, even on a temporary basis because of the possibility for birth tourism," the official stated.
The official painted a scenario of concern to the administration. "If a person comes here nine months pregnant to look around at some things, in a couple of weeks that is the mother of a lifetime American citizen and a direct line into American cash and welfare for the rest of that child's life," he added.
Though the US government does not officially track how many babies are born to foreign visitors annually, estimates place the figure between 20,000 and 26,000 per year. Experts note this represents a tiny fraction of total US births.
After Tuesday's court ruling, White House spokesman Abigail Jackson said Trump remained "totally committed to protecting the value of natural-born American citizenship." She confirmed the president had directed Congress to act swiftly on the issue.
"The Department of Justice will also prioritise investigations of birth tourism schemes," Jackson told reporters. "The Trump administration has many tools to safeguard American citizenship."
Markwayne Mullin, who heads the Department of Homeland Security, suggested visitor restrictions were under active review. "There are tourist visas that they get to come into the US or into our territories just simply to give birth," he said during an appearance on Fox and Friends.
Mullin outlined what he saw as security implications of the practice. "They'll come in the eighth month, maybe one, two, three weeks left, give birth here, and then they have a child who may move back to China, raise the person in a communist regime even though they're a citizen of the US," he explained.
The official added that such individuals sometimes return to America for university education. "In some cases, they go to universities, stealing intellectual property," Mullin said.
"It's absolutely been a national security issue."
The Supreme Court decision on Tuesday invalidated Trump's Day One executive order, which had sought to deny citizenship to children born to parents residing in the US illegally or on temporary visas.
