Washington: After the US Supreme Court struck down President Donald Trump’s order denying citizenship to illegal migrants’ babies born in the US, he is taking a second stab at it with two new narrowly focused orders.
One of his orders against “birthright citizenship” on Thursday targets “birth tourism” by denying citizenship to children born to pregnant women who come to the US on tourist visas for giving birth here so the babies can automatically become citizens.
The other order would bar citizenship for babies born to foreigners with links to terrorism; to those who are diplomats or employees of foreign governments, and to those working for international organisations.
Trump’s Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, the driving force behind the immigration policies, said it would also apply to the children of those who “lobby and act on behalf of foreign governments”.
Trump said the Supreme Court ruling nullifying his earlier order was “a very, very unfortunate decision”.
“Our country suffers because of it”, he said. “And we’re ending it (in) a different way”.
He warned a “big crackdown” on birth tourism was coming, and his administration can now act in a “forceful manner”.
In a 6-3 ruling in June, the Supreme Court struck down his earlier order denying citizenship to children of illegal migrants and temporary visitors, saying it violated the Constitution’s 14th Amendment that guarantees citizenship to anyone born in the US without any limitations.
Trump repeated on Thursday his interpretation of the 14th Amendment that it was “done right after the Civil War” solely to ensure citizenship “for the babies of slaves”.
Therefore, he contends, it should not be applied to everyone now.
“People are building businesses around it”, he said, referring to the organised manner in which birth tourism has emerged.
He claimed that some men were claiming citizenship for “56” and “90” children.
Trump is so vested in the issue that he came to the opening hearing at the Supreme Court on the challenge to his order, becoming the first president to attend the court’s session.
But his presence failed to move two of his appointees, Justices Amy Coney Barrett and Brett Kavanaugh, and the conservative Chief Justice John Roberts, who joined the three liberal judges in striking down the order.
Trump’s new orders to bypass the court ruling will certainly face a court challenge that rehashes the scope and meaning of the 14th Amendment.
Miller asserted that these orders were different because the president was exercising his authority under the Immigration and Naturalisation Act.
The order on children born in the US to diplomats is puzzling because they were not eligible for citizenship, as the 14th Amendment has a caveat that it applies only to those “subject to the jurisdiction” of the US, and diplomats and their families are not.
Explaining the administration’s rationale for the birthright tourism order, Miller said, “If you’re telling a consular officer you’re here as a tourist, but your true purpose and intent is to go to a baby mill, give birth and try and mint an American citizen while you’re here, then you’re committing fraud”.
The children get access “under this broken system, to welfare benefits, ultimately to the voting booth, and all the other rights and privileges that belong solely to Americans”, he added.
Around the US, “birth hotels” for women coming to get citizenship have surfaced in the news for various reasons, and even if some of the facilities faced legal action for violating housing or medical care regulations, the mothers were not affected. Nor were the babies’ citizenship.
In an egregious case on Long Island in 2020, prosecutors said the “birth house” operators arranged the birth of 119 babies to Turkish women who paid them between $7,500 and $10,000.
On top of that, prosecutors said, they fraudulently billed the New York Medicaid programme, which is a government insurance programme for the poor, $2.1 million.
