President Trump has signed two new executive orders on birthright citizenship. These two follow his original executive order on birthright citizenship.
Neither one has direct application to people with birthright Puerto Rican citizenship, but both could apply in Puerto Rico.
Value and meaning
One is called “Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship.” It begins by saying, “The privilege of United States citizenship is a priceless and profound gift. ” It goes on to acknowledge that the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution provides birthright citizenship for everyone born in a state of the United States and “subject to the jurisdiction of” the United States.
It points out that there are people born in the United States but not subject to its jurisdiction. For example, foreign diplomats are not considered subjects of the United States if they live here as part of their service to their own countries. Therefore, their children are not U.S. citizens if they are born here during that service.
The executive order adds categories of people whom the administration thinks should also be excluded:
” (1) when that person’s mother was unlawfully present in the United States and the father was not a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident at the time of said person’s birth, or (2) when that person’s mother’s presence in the United States at the time of said person’s birth was lawful but temporary (such as, but not limited to, visiting the United States under the auspices of the Visa Waiver Program or visiting on a student, work, or tourist visa) and the father was not a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident at the time of said person’s birth.”
There are other groups of people listed as well: employees of foreign governments, birthright tourists (see below), or “alien enemies,” including anyone “Blocking Property and Prohibiting Transactions With Persons Who Commit, Threaten to Commit, or Support Terrorism.”
This is a repackaging of Trump’s first executive order trying to limit birthright citizenship. The Supreme Court ruled that the first one was unconstitutional. The administration is hoping that this one will have phrased it in a way that will not be affected by that ruling. It says, “It is the policy of the United States that no department or agency of the United States government shall issue documents recognizing United States citizenship, or accept documents issued by State, local, or other governments or authorities purporting to recognize United States citizenship…” if the person in question falls into those categories. By focusing on policies other than attempting to make a law, this order might be able to squeak through. However, the American Civil Liberties Union has already filed suit.
Birth tourism
The other executive order is called “Ending Birth Tourism.” “Birth tourism” is the administration’s name for the practice of coming to the United States shortly before having a baby, specifically in order to make sure the child is a U.S. citizen. The Center for Immigration Studies, a nonpartisan think tank, claimed that some 20,000 babies — 0.55%, or a little more than half of one percent of live births in the U.S. each year — are born to foreign tourists.
They further believe, as does Trump, that the mothers in these cases are not innocent tourists who mistimed their trips. They believe that these are women who have committed fraud by applying for a tourist visa without admitting their intention to seek medical care while in the United States. Fraudulent visa applications are already illegal, though. It is legal to travel to the United States for the purpose of receiving medical care, just as U.S. citizens can use medical tourism to Thailand or Costa Rica to save on the cost of surgery. However, any false statement is illegal.
The executive order says, “Citizenship is not a commodity to be acquired through calculated exploitation and evasion of the immigration laws, such as by entering the United States on a nonimmigrant visa for the purpose of giving birth within the Nation’s borders. ” It applies not only to the holder of a fraudulent visa but also to “birth tourism operators,’ or anyone who helps such a person obtain a fraudulent visa.
Again, the focus is on policies and not on laws. This could be an effort to bypass the fact that Congress, not the president, must make laws on immigration.
What does this mean for Puerto Rico?
Since the “Value and Meaning” order rests on the 14th Amendment, which applies only to birthright citizenship in states, it is possible that its application to Puerto Rico could be challenged.
Both orders call for government departments such as Social Security to make sure the people mentioned do not receive any documents showing citizenship. This could mean that Puerto Rico hospitals as well as offices of the departments named in the executive orders will have to figure out ways to identify ineligible people. A tourist’s baby could be held in a hospital or sent away with no documents while the mother’s visa is investigated to eliminate all chance of fraud. A legal foreign worker’s baby could end up stateless. Offices and medical facilities could be burdened with further paperwork at a time when the Island is already dealing with significant challenges.
These executive orders also demonstrate that separatists are wrong when they claim that the federal government just wouldn’t think of rescinding U.S. citizenship for citizens of a new Republic of Puerto Rico. Clearly, the federal government is willing to change citizenship laws.
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