Birthright citizenship is a much discussed topic in the media as some Republicans have toyed with the idea of getting rid of it, arguing that it was never constitutional. Congressman Tom Tiffany, R-Wis., earlier this week criticized a loophole that Chinese nationals are reportedly using to get U.S. citizenship through a U.S. territory.
"Under an Obama-era policy, Chinese nationals can visit the U.S. territory of the Northern Mariana Islands without a visa," Tiffany wrote on the social media platform, X. "Chinese women visit the islands to deliver their babies who automatically become U.S. citizens."
According to reports, there is a policy that was implemented under the Obama administration that allowed Chinese nationals to visit the northern Mariana Islands without a Visa.
Tiffany said during a Thursday interview with the "Just the News, No Noise" TV show that many Chinese nationals come to the Mariana Islands, have children in order to get them birthright citizenship and abuse the system. "We call it birth tourism," he said. "There are more children being born to Chinese nationals than there are to native people of the Marianas. And that tells you everything you need to know."
He alleged that some of the Chinese nationals had communist ties and were still allowed to come to the islands and participate in the birth tourism process.
During a hearing, Tiffany questioned Ur M. Jaddou, who was appointed as the director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in 2021 about birth tourism.
"Why is the administration allowing this to continue where it is not required of a Chinese communist national coming into the northern Mariana Islands without a visa, having a child and that child becoming a citizen? Do you think that should be the case?" Tiffany asked. Jaddou said she was not a foreign policy expert and according to Tiffany, she didn't seem to be aware of that being an issue.
Conservative scholars have argued that the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment doesn't grant citizenship to children of immigrants if they are born in the U.S., while liberal scholars argue it does. Earlier this week, Congressman Glenn Grothman, R-Wis., said he thinks President-elect Donald Trump ought to end birthright citizenship through an executive order because he doubts the Senate will pass such a measure.
"In the Senate, they have a filibuster rule which means for things that are purely policy-related, they're going to need 60 votes," Grothman said on the "Furthermore with Amanda Head" podcast. "They're not going to get 60 votes. So it's going to have to be his just order coming down."
Former Florida GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz introduced legislation in July that would end birthright citizenship for immigrants who came to the U.S. Grothman argued that Democrats misinterpreted the 14th Amendment and said it was aimed at former slaves, not immigrants.
"When they said in the Constitution, or when the amendments in the Constitution were put in, as to who was a citizen, they were aiming at former slaves," he said. "And now, the Democrats misconstrued [it]."
