𝐓𝐑𝐔𝐌𝐏 𝐁𝐀𝐍𝐒 𝐁𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐇 𝐓𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐌 𝐎𝐔𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 — 𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐒𝐓 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄 𝐈𝐍 𝐀𝐌𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐍 𝐇𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘, 𝐔𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐀 𝟏𝟗𝟓𝟐 𝐕𝐈𝐒𝐀 𝐋𝐀𝐖
President Trump signed a second executive order Thursday that does something no administration has ever done: it bans birth tourism outright, using a visa-fraud statute the Supreme Court can't touch.
This comes weeks after the Court struck down Trump's broader birthright citizenship order 6-3 in June, citing the 14th Amendment. So instead of relitigating who's born a citizen, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller explained the new approach rests on 𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝟐𝟏𝟓 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐈𝐦𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐀𝐜𝐭 — a 1952 law he called “𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘺 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘭𝘢𝘸𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘥𝘦.”
The logic is simple: lying to a consular officer about why you're visiting is fraud. “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 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘵 𝘢𝘯 𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘻𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘧𝘳𝘢𝘶𝘥 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘨𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘢 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘦𝘥.” Miller said.
It's not a hypothetical problem. Texas AG Ken Paxton has already sued Houston-area clinics selling $𝟑,𝟗𝟓𝟎 ’𝐛𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐚𝐠𝐞’ deals to over a thousand Chinese nationals, and billboards advertising the same scheme have turned up in Mexico.
𝐋𝐢𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞, 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐚 — 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝.