Homeland Security has moved to close a visa-free entry route into American territory that senators warned was being used for birth tourism and could give Chinese nationals a foothold near U.S. military installations. The program covers the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. territory in the western Pacific that sits closer to China than to Hawaii and hosts several sensitive defense sites.

The change is narrow in scope and significant in signal. It is one of the few concrete steps taken against a travel policy that critics have flagged for years, and it lands as the broader question of birthright citizenship remains unresolved in Congress and the courts.

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From Breitbart: 

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin is suspending a Biden-era program that allowed Chinese nationals to visit the Northern Mariana Islands without a visa, according to a federal notice filed Monday.

Mullin’s decision follows an April 22 letter from Sens. Mike Lee (R-UT), Rick Scott (R-FL), John Cornyn (R-TX), and Bill Cassidy (R-LA), who urged him and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to end the program. The senators argued that the policy encouraged birth tourism, by which foreign nationals travel to the United States to give birth so their children can obtain U.S. citizenship.

DHS cited security concerns, including the possibility that Chinese nationals could use the program to gather intelligence near U.S. military facilities. The department said more than 3,000 Chinese nationals entered the Northern Mariana Islands through the program in fiscal year 2025. Those travelers were vetted by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) rather than a State Department consular officer, according to the notice.

The program permitted prescreened Chinese travelers to visit the territory for business or tourism, generally for stays of up to 14 days. The suspension takes effect at 2 p.m. Eastern time on October 30. After that, Chinese nationals seeking to visit for business or pleasure will need a nonimmigrant visa unless another lawful exception applies, and the requirement covers both new applicants and travelers who already hold active authorization. Those already lawfully present in the islands when the suspension begins may remain for the remainder of their authorized stay. DHS said it will review the program with the State and Interior departments but did not set a date for finishing that review.

In its notice, the department said visa-free access may make it easier for people to travel to the islands specifically to give birth, and that birth tourism could strain the territory’s medical resources. It also cited two cases in which Chinese nationals were sentenced for smuggling other Chinese nationals from the Northern Mariana Islands to Guam, noting that most people involved in the second case were later found in or near sensitive military installations. The smuggling incidents cited occurred before the travel authorization program was implemented.

Scripture says God “made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place” (Acts 17:26, ESV). Borders are not an accident of history. They are part of how God ordered the world, and a nation that cannot say who enters has stopped functioning as a nation. Intercessors should see this suspension as a modest but real assertion of sovereignty, and should pray that it becomes the first of many rather than an isolated gesture. A communist government that has built a surveillance state at home and targeted Christians abroad should not receive visa-free access to American soil near American bases. That is prudence, not hostility to the Chinese people, many of whom suffer under the same regime.

Let’s pray for Secretary Mullin and the officials carrying out this suspension, that they would close the loophole completely and resist pressure to reopen it. Pray for the safety of American service members stationed in the Pacific and for the intelligence officers charged with protecting those bases. Pray for Chinese Christians living under persecution, and for Chinese families who would come to America through lawful channels seeking freedom. Ask the Lord to give Congress the resolve to address the deeper problem of birth tourism, and to restore integrity to a system that too often rewards those who exploit it.

How are you praying about this issue? Share your prayers and scriptures in the comments below.

(Excerpt from Breitbart. Photo Credit: DHS photo by Tia Dufour).