Three Republican senators have called on the Trump administration to scrap a visa waiver program that lets Chinese nationals flock to American Pacific territories, where they can give birth and secure U.S. citizenship for their children.
In a letter sent January 15 to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Senators Rick Scott of Florida, Jim Banks of Indiana, and Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma laid out how the Guam-CNMI visa waiver has turned into a loophole for what they call a “cottage industry” of birth tourism.
The program, set up back in 2009, gives Chinese passport holders up to 14 days visa-free in Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands. What started as a way to boost tourism has morphed into something far more troubling, according to the senators.
They point to cases where pregnant women from China time their visits to deliver babies on U.S. soil, granting those kids automatic citizenship under the 14th Amendment. While the numbers have fallen—from a peak of 581 births in 2018 to just 58 in 2024—the practice persists, straining the islands’ limited resources like the Northern Marianas’ sole public hospital.
“This is an ongoing security vulnerability that Xi Jinping and his successors in the [Chinese Communist Party] will be more than happy to exploit,” the senators wrote in their letter.
They argue that kids born through this scheme could grow up to snag sensitive government jobs, leveraging their Mandarin skills and potential ties back to Beijing. It’s not hard to imagine the CCP grooming these American citizens as assets, slipping them into positions where they could feed intelligence or influence policy down the line. Recent smuggling busts add fuel to these fears: one involved a Chinese national hauling eight others from Saipan to Guam, with most caught near military bases. Another saw four men jailed for sneaking 21 Chinese nationals ashore to dodge border checks.
President Trump has weighed in on birth tourism before, noting during a press briefing how “China is making a big business out of that. They come to the country. They have a child. They’re an American citizen. They get all the benefits.”
His administration now faces pressure to act swiftly, especially since the outgoing Biden team expanded the program in its last days, opening it wider to mainland Chinese visitors. The senators want a switch to standard tourist visas for all Chinese nationals heading to the CNMI, a move Noem could make unilaterally.
Not everyone’s on board. Rep. Kimberlyn King-Hinds, a Republican from the Northern Marianas, pushes back, saying birth tourism isn’t the monster it’s made out to be compared to foreign births across the U.S. mainland. She warns that clamping down could gut the local tourism economy, which relies heavily on Chinese visitors. Hotel vacancies spiked 30% last year when Customs and Border Protection paused processing briefly, and the Marianas Visitors Authority calls the waiver “essential” for keeping businesses afloat.
Experts echo the senators’ national security worries. Simon Hankinson from the Heritage Foundation notes that China doesn’t share criminal records with the U.S., making it risky to let travelers in without vetting—many might overstay and vanish into the shadows. Benjamin Jensen at the Center for Strategic and International Studies flags the islands’ strategic spot, with U.S. military ramps up there to counter Beijing’s moves in the Pacific. Smugglers lurking near bases? That smells like reconnaissance ops, testing defenses for bigger plays.
This isn’t just about tourism dollars versus border control; it’s about safeguarding America’s front lines in a tense standoff with a rising rival. The senators’ letter requests a response by January 28, pressing for immediate steps to plug the gap. If ignored, it could leave a pathway open for adversaries to plant roots right under our noses, eroding sovereignty one birth certificate at a time.
Looking broader, similar schemes pop up elsewhere. Senator Scott introduced a bill last November to ban surrogacy for folks from high-risk countries like China, sparked by a California case where a couple had nearly two dozen surrogate babies yanked away amid abuse probes. It’s a pattern: foreign powers gaming our laws to gain footholds. As stewards of this nation, blessed with vast territories from sea to shining sea, we owe it to future generations to close these doors before they swing wide open to threats we can’t yet see.
In the end, the Trump team has a chance to draw a firm line, prioritizing American security over short-term gains. With tensions simmering in the Indo-Pacific, letting the CCP exploit our islands isn’t just careless—it’s inviting trouble we can ill afford.
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