President Trump cancels automatic citizenship for children of non-citizens born in US

President Donald Trump made a new policy on automatic citizenship for some children born to US citizens abroad and children of non-citizens born in the US.

Starting Oct. 29, all non-citizen children residing abroad with U.S. citizen parents who are stationed abroad will not be considered for acquiring citizenship.

According to a policy alert released by U.S Citizenship and Immigration Services under the Trump administration on Wednesday, some children born to U.S. citizens stationed abroad as government employees or members of the U.S. military will no longer qualify for automatic American citizenship.

“USCIS no longer considers children of U.S. government employees and U.S. armed forces members residing outside the United States as ‘residing in the United States’ for purposes of acquiring citizenship” under the Immigration and Naturalization Act, the alert states. Effective on Oct. 29, 2019, all non-citizen children residing abroad with U.S. citizen parents who are either employed by the U.S. government or are members of the military stationed abroad “are not considered to be residing in the United States for acquisition of citizenship.”

But in an 11-page “policy alert,” the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) agency said it found the prevailing rules contradictory and at odds with other parts of federal immigration law and State Department procedures.

Beyond that, the rationale for the policy revision remained unclear.