FIRST ON FOX: Rubio ramps up birth tourism crackdown hours before Xi touches down in US

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FIRST ON FOX — Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Wednesday that the Trump administration is moving to restrict visas to individuals who "engage in or facilitate" birth tourism hours before Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives in the United States for a state visit, Fox News Digital has learned.

"By restricting visa issuance of those who both engage in and profit from this fraud, we are sending a clear message: The United States will not allow foreigners to exploit our immigration system and violate the sanctity of U.S. citizenship," a statement from Rubio obtained by Fox News Digital states.

The restrictions target foreigners who "knowingly engage in, have engaged in, or facilitate birth tourism," including non-citizens who work in the birth tourism industry, so-called fixers who coach visa applicants to commit fraud, as well as others who "who support, abet, and enable commercial birth tourism."

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Birth tourism is the practice of traveling to the United States for the primary purpose of giving birth so the child obtains U.S. citizenship. China has been a particular focus of federal efforts to combat the practice, with Justice Department cases targeting large-scale birth tourism operations catering predominantly to Chinese clients. Chinese nationals have traveled to clinics on the West Coast and to Saipan — part of the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands — to give birth.

Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, who chairs a House Oversight task force investigating birth tourism, has also singled out China and Russia in raising concerns about the practice.

China could also stand to gain from a reduction in birth tourism as the country faces a steep demographic decline. Young people leaving for the United States, a process made much easier if they’re already citizens, could exacerbate China's troubles on that front.

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Cracking down on birth tourism has been a cornerstone of the Trump administration’s immigration agenda. Alongside countering birth tourism, the Trump administration has also unsuccessfully sought to overturn birthright citizenship as part of its push to address what it feels are abuses of the American system.

After the Supreme Court struck down the federal government's initial attempt to do away with birthright citizenship, President Donald Trump issued two follow-up executive orders. One sought to deny citizenship to children born to members of designated terrorist organizations and the other directed the State Department to deny travel visas to or pursue removal actions against individuals believed to be in the country for the purposes of birth tourism.

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"The Trump Administration is using every tool at our disposal to defend the integrity of U.S. citizenship, protect American public benefits and U.S. taxpayers from exploitation, and safeguard our national security," Rubio said in his statement.

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Jinping arrives Wednesday evening for a tense White House summit with Trump covering AI, tariffs, rare earth minerals and fentanyl exports.

Ashley J. DiMella reports on politics for Fox News Digital.