Politico: State Department Cable Orders Retroactive Review of 'Birth Tourism' Visa and Travel Records Back to 2020
Politico reported on October 8 that, according to a U.S. State Department internal cable it obtained, the department has instructed U.S. embassies and consulates worldwide to retroactively review selected visa and travel records from January 24, 2020 through August 1, 2026, in order to identify foreign nationals suspected of entering the United States on tourist visas primarily to give birth so that their children obtain U.S. citizenship.
According to Politico, the cable directs missions to examine selected flight manifests and visa records and to complete the review by the end of November this year. Suspected cases are to be reported to the Birth Tourism Prevention Task Force, which the department established in August. The review focuses on travelers whose primary purpose of entering the United States was to give birth.
The report said the scrutiny does not stop with the parents who traveled to give birth. Other relatives who helped plan or facilitate such trips could also face visa revocation, even if they are not the parents of a child born in the United States. Consular officers were also told to scrutinize more closely the immigration history of foreign nationals who apply at embassies and consulates for U.S. passports for their young children.
According to Politico, more than 2,300 visas tied to "birth tourism" had been revoked by late September, up from roughly 600 announced in August. A State Department spokesperson has previously said publicly that the United States has revoked more than 250,000 visas during the current administration, about 2,300 of them connected to birth tourism, and that the department will use all available tools to dismantle birth tourism networks, describing a U.S. visa as "a privilege, not a right." Secretary of State Marco Rubio has also said, in announcing related enforcement, that "American citizenship is not for sale."
The review's start date, January 24, 2020, coincides with a State Department rule that took effect in 2020 allowing consular officers to deny a visitor visa when they determine that the applicant's primary purpose of travel is to give birth in the United States to obtain citizenship for the child. On August 6 this year, President Donald Trump signed an executive order targeting birth tourism, and on September 23 Rubio announced visa restrictions under Section 212(a)(3)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality Act against people who engage in or facilitate commercial birth tourism.
The text of the internal cable has not been made public, and the details of its contents reported here are based on Politico's reporting. The report also noted that being included in the review does not by itself establish wrongdoing, and that officials must determine case by case whether there are legal grounds for action. On June 30 this year, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 against the administration's executive order seeking to restrict birthright citizenship, reaffirming the constitutional guarantee of citizenship for those born in the United States.
Related:
Chinese Visa Holders Post Revocation Notices as State Department Task Force Revokes 700+ Visas
AP: State Department Plans to Revoke Up to 200,000 B1/B2 Visas Held by Asylum Seekers
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图片：美国国务院总部哈里·S·杜鲁门大楼（华盛顿）/ Harry S. Truman Building, U.S. Department of State headquarters, Washington, D.C. — Photo: U.S. Department of State (Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)
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