Some U.S. couples could face a minimum of $3,000 in a “birth tax” under President Trump’s executive order that seeks to end birthright citizenship, according to a cost analysis conducted by a non-partisan think tank.
The National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP) used current government fee structures for proving U.S. citizenship to calculate the “tax.” Nearly half of the costs ($1,385) would go toward completing the required 14-page Application for Certificate of Citizenship through U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the group estimated.
At least another $1,500 would go for legal fees associated with completing the government form — or one like it — if Trump’s executive order were to go into effect for children born in the U.S. to parents who are not Americans or legal permanent residents.
The fees compiled by NFAP are contingent on Trump’s executive action clearing legal hurdles. The birthright citizenship executive order is currently under a temporary nationwide ban, but the Trump administration has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to lift the ban. The nation’s highest court has not yet ruled on the matter.
President Trump displays an executive order he signed March 26. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)
Margaret Stock, an immigration and citizenship attorney with Cascadia Cross Border Law Group who worked with NFAP on the study, told NewsNation that the $3,000 estimate is “very conservative”.
She said families could pay much more depending on how complicated the immigration status of the child’s parents is considered by government officials and other unforeseen costs.
To determine estimated costs, Stock said NFAP used the fees associated with the N-600 citizenship form that is used by parents in the U.S. whose children are born overseas but are seeking American citizenship and are required to file paperwork with USCIS.
However, she predicts that paving a road where a “birth tax” becomes a reality for immigrant parents is far from completion due to the unsettled nature of the legality of Trump’s order.
“There’s no existing process in place to do what the president wants to do,” Stock said.
What Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship does
The order prevents U.S. government agencies from issuing citizenship to anyone when the person’s mother is not in the country legally or was temporarily legal at the time of the child’s birth and if the person’s father is not a U.S. citizen or a legal resident at the time of the child’s birth.
In this 2016 photo, a woman in Sullivan City, Texas, who said she entered the country illegally, walks with her daughter who was born in the United States but was denied a birth certificate. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)
In the executive order, Trump wrote that the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which affords U.S. citizenship to anyone born in the country, has never been interpreted to extend citizenship universally to everyone born within the nation’s borders.
The order was immediately met with legal challenges filed by attorneys general in 22 states and by immigrant advocacy groups, which sued the Trump administration over his sweeping immigration actions since returning to the White House.
Federal judges in Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and , have blocked the order while the matter is being considered by the courts.
The American Civil Liberties Union called the order “unconstitutional” and “reckless.”
Attorneys for the Trump administration argued the order should only be blocked in states where judges have ruled against the order’s legality and constitutionality.
How costly would ending birthright citizenship be to expecting parents?
Stock first calculated the costs to prospective parents affected by birthright citizenship in 2012, when she was debating the topic and first collaborated with NFAP on the cost analysis, which estimated the “birth tax” at the time would be around $1,600.
Now, in addition to fees nearly doubled from the initial study, NFAP believes biometrics would have to be submitted to USCIS or another agency to confirm the baby’s identity, a test which currently costs $85 per person, Stuart Anderson, NFAP’s executive director wrote for Forbes.
Anderson told NewsNation that the Trump administration has not provided details about how it plans to verify whether a child is a U.S. citizen. He said the administration will likely not allow for an honor system in which the parents are taken at their word about their own citizenship status.
The Trump administration and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) did not immediately respond to requests for comment from NewsNation about the NFAP cost estimates.
Even more costs could be added if the parents and newborn babies were required to appear in person at the Social Security Administration or if DNA tests are needed to determine the baby’s father, Stock said.
The Alaska-based immigration attorney said she has been involved in some citizenship cases in which parents paid upwards of $50,000 in fees to settle their child’s citizenship, making the $3,000 figure a bare minimum parents could pay.
“I don’t think (the Trump administration) is paying any attention to the economic costs at all,” Stock told NewsNation. “We’re talking about a wholesale change to the entire system for acknowledging people’s citizenship in America and there’s no bureaucracy in place to do any of this.”
