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Marco Rubio was instantly fact-checked with the Trump administration’s own scheme after his claim US citizenship is “not for sale”.
Rubio, the US Secretary of State, announced that a “Birth Tourism Prevention Task Force” has been established to stop foreign-born parents travelling to the US to have their babies in order to give them birthright citizenship – a part of the US constitution that grants US citizenship to almost everyone who is born in the country.
It comes amid recent claims from US president Donald Trump that “hundreds of thousands” of babies have been born in the US for this reason, despite not providing any evidence or time-length for this claim.
In a post on X/Twitter, Rubio began the announcement of the new task force that aims to “put an end to this heinous abuse of our nation’s laws” by suggesting that “American citizenship is not for sale”.
But, Rubio was quickly reminded of Trump’s $1 million Gold Card (originally floated as $5 million) scheme that grants holders “green card privileges along with a path to citizenship”.
“It's literally for sale,” someone pointed out.
Another wrote: “It literally is, thanks to your boss (Trump).”
California governor Gavin Newsom’s press office asked: “You sure about that?”
“Tell me more about the Trump gold card. Citizenship is quite literally for sale,” another argued.
Someone else pointed out: “Ummmm….. The U.S. government offers the ‘Gold Card’ program. Under Executive Order 14351, foreign nationals can obtain U.S. residency and a pathway to citizenship for a $1 million to $2 million gift.”
Another said: “Seems like American citizenship is indeed for sale. Like everything else under Trump.”
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