The United States will deny visas to those who engage in or facilitate birth tourism, the practice of foreign mothers coming to the United States to give birth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Sept. 23.
Rubio said the new visa restriction policy fell under part of the Immigration and Nationality Act. The law allows the United States to bar noncitizens from entering or being in the country if the person’s entry or proposed activities in the United States would have potentially serious negative consequences.
The new policy applies to “individuals who knowingly engage in, have engaged in, or facilitate birth tourism to the United States, including owners, operators, and managers of commercial birth tourism facilitation networks, visa ‘fixers’ who coach applicants to commit fraud, foreign medical providers who knowingly abet and facilitate such travel and the fraudulent use of our Medicaid system, and other individuals who support, abet, and enable commercial birth tourism.” …