Trump administration denying citizenship to kids of gay parents if they’re born abroad

Children of U.S. citizens are falling victim to a policy that de-recognizes their parents’ marriage—and strips them of their birthright citizenship.

A Trump administration change to how immigration law is implemented has led to the children of same-sex couples being denied American citizenship.

Several years ago, the State Department issued rules to how it would implement the 1952 Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). Before, under the INA, a child born to a married couple living abroad had a right to American citizenship at birth if one of their parents was an American citizen.

But that changed in 2017.

“The U.S. Department of State interprets the INA to mean that a child born abroad must be biologically related to a U.S. citizen parent,” the State Department’s website says. “Even if local law recognizes a surrogacy agreement and finds that U.S. parents are the legal parents of a child conceived and born abroad… if the child does not have a biological connection to a U.S. citizen parent, the child will not be a U.S. citizen at birth.”

This changed nothing for heterosexual married couples. Passport applications don’t ask if a child was conceived with the help of a sperm or egg donor, which may cut the biological tie between the child and the American parent.

via Daily Beast