FBI Director Kash Patel told senators Tuesday the Trump administration is working with Congress to draft new legislation that would crack down on women who come to the U.S. to give birth so their children will automatically become citizens.
“We are following the federal statutes that we have on the books right now, and we’re working with our partners in Congress to draft new legislation to give us new authorities to make sure that we can combat the threat,” Patel said during the Senate Judiciary Committee’s oversight hearing.
“We want the United States of America to be open for legal immigration, not for illegal immigration, and we’re going to continue to work to that end and work with our partners in Congress,” he continued. “We’ve asked them for more resources and legislation, and we need some bolstering in that capacity.”
Patel’s remarks were in response to a question from Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), who is among the Republican lawmakers who have introduced legislation in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling in June that struck down President Donald Trump’s bid to end automatic citizenship for all children born in the United States.
Her bill and others are unlikely to pass in the current Congress given the narrow GOP majority margins in both chambers and the constraints of Senate filibuster rules. But the collaboration between the administration and lawmakers on this issue is notable, showing the White House is continuing to explore opportunities to circumvent the Supreme Court’s verdict.
In the months since the decision, the president’s aides and allies have zeroed in on policy options for targeting “birth tourism,” including efforts to prosecute organizations and individuals involved in “birth tourism schemes” or women already in the country for fraud. Trump signed two executive orders on birthright citizenship last month, which included provisions targeting the practice.
Estimates of how many women might engage in “birth tourism” annually are uncertain, but U.S. Census data shows vastly fewer instances — 26,000 babies a year — than the administration’s estimate of more than 3.5 million yearly, according to the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute.
Trump allies have pushed to keep efforts to target birthright citizenship at the forefront in Republican legal and policy circles and have pressed lawmakers to introduce bills ranging from constitutional amendments to narrower measures — like Blackburn’s — targeting “birth tourism.”
Conservative lawyers and immigration hawks argue that legislation is crucial as the Trump administration faces legal challenges: A federal judge in Maryland has blocked enforcement of Trump’s August order restricting birthright citizenship while litigation proceeds.
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