Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) announced that the Department of Homeland Security has suspended a visa-free travel program for Chinese visitors to the Northern Mariana Islands.
He wrote: “I’m very pleased to report that @SecMullinDHS at @DHSgov just CLOSED Joe Biden’s loophole for Chinese birth tourism for which we sounded the alarm earlier this year. America is not a nursery for the CCP to steal citizenship. Thank you, President Trump!”
I’m very pleased to report that @SecMullinDHS at @DHSgov just CLOSED Joe Biden’s loophole for Chinese birth tourism for which we sounded the alarm earlier this year.
America is not a nursery for the CCP to steal citizenship.
Thank you, President Trump! https://t.co/4wAQM9vA8P
— Mike Lee (@SenMikeLee) October 26, 2026
The program let pre-screened Chinese nationals visit the islands, a U.S. territory in the Pacific, for up to 14 days without a visa. DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin’s suspension notice went into the Federal Register on Monday. Lee, with fellow Republican Senators Rick Scott (FL), John Cornyn (TX) and Bill Cassidy (LA), had urged Mullin in April to end it.
An unnamed State Department spokesperson told reporters: “We will not allow foreign nationals or commercial networks from any country to abuse our visa process for financial gain.”
Scott has said the same thing about birth tourism for weeks. “Communist China is weaponizing birthright citizenship to infiltrate our country,” he posted in September.
Supporters of the program, living and working on the islands, say ending the 14-day Chinese visa-free travel allowance would put a serious dent in their economy.
Kimberlyn King-Hinds, the Marianas’ non-voting delegate to Congress, told Radio Free Asia that the issue is local: “It’s not about China. It’s about retirement. It’s about paying employees.” She added, “This is about the economy. This is about tourism. This is about customers. We need customers for this economy to keep moving. That’s just the reality.”
[NOTE: King-Hinds said Tuesday that she had spoken with the White House and Secretary Mullin about the suspension. She emphasized that it was “suspended, not terminated” and that she hoped to see the program restored.]
Jamika Taijeron, managing director of the Marianas Visitors Authority, said the tourism industry needs “consistency and predictability in federal travel policies.”
Steve Jang, who runs Plumeria Steakhouse in Garapan, said: “Eliminating the waiver would almost certainly reduce arrival numbers.”
The Saipan Chamber of Commerce wrote that birth tourism is no longer a prevailing issue because targeted measures have “effectively mitigated” it.
[NOTE: Chinese visitors to the islands numbered 185,526 in 2019; in fiscal 2025 they numbered 10,764, according to Radio Free Asia.]