The U.S. State Department has proposed requiring parents applying for passports for their children to provide proof of their own citizenship or immigration status as part of President Donald Trump’s latest effort to limit birthright citizenship.
The draft guidance, reviewed by Reuters, is the first detailed look at how the State Department could enforce Trump’s August 6 executive order targeting what it calls “birth tourism” and broadening historical exceptions to birthright citizenship.
The White House referred Reuters questions to the State Department. In a statement, State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said that “President Trump has been unequivocal that this Administration will protect the meaning and value of American citizenship, full stop, and that includes making sure our passport adjudication process fully reflects that standard.”
Limiting birthright citizenship has been one of the president’s top priorities in his far-reaching crackdown on immigration. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled his previous attempt violated the country’s Constitution.
Trump’s initial executive order would have granted automatic U.S. citizenship at birth only to children with at least one parent who was a U.S. citizen or a lawful permanent resident known as a green card holder.
In a 6-3 ruling, the Supreme Court found the order was unlawful, with a majority finding it violated the Citizenship Clause of the Constitution’s 14th Amendment.
IMPLEMENTING TRUMP’S ORDER
Trump’s August 6 order was narrower, taking particular aim at “birth tourism,” in which women travel to the United States to give birth so their children can obtain automatic citizenship. That order could still be blocked in court.
The new directive would withhold citizenship from children with a parent who works for a foreign government in the U.S., is engaged in fraud or a commercial transaction to obtain citizenship, or is classified as an “alien enemy.”
“The Department will require parental information and evidence of parental citizenship or immigration status as part of its determination whether the applicant is subject to EO 14418,” the State Department draft guidance reads, citing the executive order number.
