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Trump's birthright citizenship crackdown: US may demand parents’ immigration proof for children’s passports
Trump administration's guidance targets birthright citizenship and birth tourism.
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The US State Department has proposed requiring parents to prove their own citizenship or immigration status when applying for passports for their children, Reuters reported, citing draft guidance reviewed.
The proposal is part of President Donald Trump’s latest effort to restrict birthright citizenship and enforce an August 6 executive order targeting what his administration calls “birth tourism”.
The draft guidance offers the first detailed look at how the State Department could implement the order. If introduced, parents or legal guardians would have to submit documents showing their citizenship or immigration status as part of their child’s passport application.
What documents could parents need?
According to Reuters, parents could be asked to provide proof such as a valid US passport or birth certificate if they are US citizens. Non-citizen parents could be required to submit documents showing their immigration status, including an I-94 form or a lawful permanent resident card.
The information would be used to determine whether the child falls under the categories covered by Trump’s August 6 executive order, Reuters reported.
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Under the current passport process, parents of children born in the US generally need to establish their relationship to the child and provide photo identification. They are also asked to indicate on the application whether they are US citizens, but supporting proof of their own citizenship is not generally required.
The State Department has not yet implemented the proposed guidance.
State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott told Reuters that the Trump administration would ensure that the passport adjudication process reflects its approach to protecting the “meaning and value” of US citizenship.
Which children could be affected?
Trump’s August 6 order is narrower than his earlier attempt to restrict birthright citizenship.
The latest directive targets children whose parents fall into specific categories. These include cases where a parent works for a foreign government in the US, is involved in fraud or a commercial transaction to obtain citizenship, or is classified as an “alien enemy”.
The order also specifically targets so-called birth tourism, in which foreign nationals travel to the US to give birth so their children can obtain US citizenship.
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Trump’s earlier executive order sought to deny automatic citizenship to children born in the US unless at least one parent was a US citizen or lawful permanent resident. The Supreme Court later ruled that attempt unlawful, with the majority finding that it violated the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment, Reuters reported.
Legal challenges remain
The August 6 order is already facing legal challenges.
Reuters reported that lawyers representing babies who could have been affected by Trump’s earlier order have asked federal judges to block the latest directive as well.
US District Judge Deborah Boardman expressed skepticism about the new order during a hearing in Maryland, according to Reuters, but allowed plaintiffs to revise their lawsuit so she could consider whether to block it.
Justice Department lawyers argued that the challenge was premature because federal agencies had not yet issued public guidance on how the order would be implemented.
The proposed passport requirement therefore remains subject to further action by the State Department and the courts.
(With inputs from Reuters)
