Exclusive – Rep. Morgan Griffith: My Birthright Citizenship Bill Would Stop Birth Tourism in U.S. Territories

Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-VA) is offering a bill that he says would stop birth tourism in U.S. territories following the Supreme Court’s controversial ruling on birthright citizenship.

Griffith explained on Breitbart News Daily that he has taken the Supreme Court’s opinions over the years to craft the bill, looking back to the rulings on U.S. territories.

“We, right now we can’t get birthright citizenship in the states, but there’s a line of cases dating back to 1901. … But in 2012, a U.S. Circuit Court ruled that the territories are not governed on citizenship by the Constitution, that that’s strictly an act of Congress, a will of Congress. Thus, today we have five territories, and four of the five have U.S. citizenship, but American Samoa does not because Congress hasn’t granted it,” he said, explaining that he took the line of cases to craft this legislation.

“That means that the 14th Amendment on citizenship for birthright citizenship, whether you agree with the Supreme Court or not, and I don’t, but if you know, no matter what, the territories can be stopped from having birthright citizenship,” he said, making it clear that the bill still guarantees everybody who’s a citizen of Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern Marianas will remain citizens, as well as their children.

“We’re not trying to take away citizenship from anybody, except those who are trying to take advantage of American law, and particularly the Chinese in the Northern Marianas and some in Guam are, you know, literally having birth tourism,” he explained, noting that the Chinese are having children born in these U.S. territories and getting birthright citizenship, then going back to China.

“They’re getting children born in the in the U.S. and getting birthright citizenship, and then going back to China,” he said. “It’s outrageous. And they’re living in China. They’re being raised as Chinese. They don’t want to adopt the American ways. They don’t want to become a part of the American system or country.”

“But when they hit 18, they can vote in our elections, and even — I’m old enough to remember the movie The Manchurian Candidate. Well, you don’t have to go through all those machinations now. You can raise up a candidate for president of the United States in Beijing by having them go and be born in the Northern Marianas or Guam. It’s wrong. It’s a loophole. It ought to be closed, and my bill closes it without taking away the citizenship from anybody who rightfully and deservedly is an American citizen, or wants to be an American citizen if they go through the legal process,” he said.

This measure would stop these loopholes and end birth tourism in U.S. territories.

“It could be of any nationality, but the Chinese are the ones that are currently abusing it the most,” Griffith said. “But anybody who comes in illegally, right, illegally or on a vacation, and has a baby in the territories, it won’t count … the child won’t be an American citizen.

Griffith thinks that the bill, however, will not come up until after the midterm elections.

“I would hope that leadership and Chairman of the Judiciary Committee Jim Jordan would see this as either a good standalone bill or as part of a package. Because there are some other things that we could do – they’re difficult – but that we could do related to birth citizenship in the United States, things like prohibiting, and I think this would be complicated, and that’s why I haven’t put that bill in, but you could limit people coming into the United States from particular countries if they were, you know, more than seven months pregnant or something,” he added, admitting that is “much more difficult” to accomplish.

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