Trump Administration Releases Rule Restricting ‘Birth Tourism’ – By Victoria Macchi, Aline Barros (VOA News) / Jan 23 2020
As the Trump administration adds another hurdle to visitors coming to the U.S. from abroad, the limits of the law may restrict officials from stopping pregnant woman from obtaining visas.
The new visa rules published on Thursday by the U.S. Government is an attempt to curb “birth tourism,” the practice of coming to the U.S. with the express intent to give birth in the country to obtain U.S. citizenship for the child.
Under the rules, which take effect Jan. 24, 2020, consular officers may deny tourist visas if they believe the applicant is coming to the country for that reason.
But in order to avoid discrimination, those officials are limited in what they can ask, making the process of determining whether a visa applicant is intending to come to the U.S. to give birth difficult.
“The officer is actually restricted from asking if someone is pregnant, from asking if they are intending to get pregnant and from asking for proof that they’re not pregnant,” explains Sarah Pierce, a policy analyst with the Migration Policy Institute in Washington, D.C. “Unless the foreign national naturally brings it up or is very obviously pregnant, I think the officer will really have their hands tied.”
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