Democrats Block Sen. Scott’s ‘SAFE KIDS Act’ as Support Grows for Ending Birth Tourism Loophole

WASHINGTON, D.C.- Today, Senate Democrats blocked Senate passage of U.S. Senator Rick Scott's Stopping Adversarial Foreign Exploitation of Kids in Domestic Surrogacy (SAFE KIDS) Act, despite growing support for the bill.

This legislation prevents adversarial nations, including Communist China, from using American surrogates to obtain U.S. citizenship for their children and traffic infants abroad. It is the first bill of its kind to curb this practice and establish accountability for brokers who facilitate commercial surrogacy contracts with America's foreign adversaries: China, Iran, Russia, and North Korea.

Twelve of Senator Scott's Republican colleagues have now joined his efforts to pass the SAFE KIDS Act following the Supreme Court ruling that struck down President Trump's executive order and has brought renewed attention to the ways foreign nationals can exploit U.S. citizenship laws.

Cosponsorsof the SAFE KIDS Act now include: U.S. Senators Mike Lee, Marsha Blackburn, Jim Banks, Dan Sullivan, Pete Ricketts, Cynthia Lummis, Ted Budd, Mike Rounds, John Kennedy, Ashley Moody, Dave McCormick, and Tim Sheehy.

U.S. Senator Mike Lee said, "Our foreign adversaries aren't afraid to use unsuspecting American surrogates as pawns to churn out birthright citizens. Just last year, the Wall Street Journal uncovered a citizenship trafficking ring in California involving 22 babies born to Chinese 'parents' via surrogates who had no idea they were being exploited for a citizenship farm. This is a disturbing attack on our laws, on the innocent children abused, and on the young women who were deceived. I'm proud to cosponsor the SAFE KIDS Act with Senator Rick Scott to close the surrogacy loopholes used to exploit women, children, and our country."

U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis said, "China is using America's surrogacy industry to buy U.S. citizenship for its elite, and American women are being used and lied to in the process. Right now, surrogacy in this country is almost entirely unregulated, and predators have noticed. Congress has known about this loophole for years and done nothing. The SAFE KIDS Act closes it: no surrogacy deals with brokers serving China, Russia, Iran, or North Korea. That is just common sense."

U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn said, "There is absolutely no reason foreign nations like Communist China should be able to use American surrogates to obtain U.S. citizenship for their children and pull them into trafficking schemes. The SAFE KIDS Act would prevent the exploitation of innocent women and children and ensure surrogacy is used to build families, not abuse them."

U.S. Senator Ted Budd said, "Foreign nationals from China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran are exploiting America's surrogacy system to obtain U.S. citizenship for their children. Preying on American women is a scheme that not only threatens our national security but also enables human trafficking. We cannot allow these abuses to continue. I am proud to join Senator Scott and my colleagues in closing this loophole to prevent further abuse of the U.S. surrogacy system and protect the American family."

U.S. Senator Jim Banks said, "Communist China will exploit any loophole it can to undermine America's security and abuse our laws. We should never allow foreign adversaries to weaponize American surrogacy to obtain U.S. citizenship or traffic children abroad. I'm proud to support Senator Scott's SAFE KIDS Act to protect women, children, and our national security."

U.S. Senator Pete Ricketts said, "Unrestrained birthright citizenship hands Communist China and other adversaries an opportunity to infiltrate our country. Bad actors are exploiting policy loopholes to prey upon innocent women and children. The SAFE KIDS Act would put an end to surrogacy schemes being used for our enemies' gain by punishing criminal brokers, not surrogates. This is a matter of national security and defending innocent life. I am proud to support it."

U.S. Senator John Kennedy said, "Foreign adversaries should never be allowed to abuse America's surrogacy laws to traffic innocent babies, game our immigration system or threaten our national security. Communist China and other hostile regimes are always looking for another loophole to exploit. The SAFE KIDS Act will help slam this one shut and give the good guys another tool to stop these bad actors."

Senator Dave McCormick said, "The SAFE KIDS Act is another way of putting Pennsylvania families first. This legislation closes a dangerous vulnerability by ensuring that U.S. citizenship cannot be wrongfully obtained through surrogacy schemes orchestrated by our adversaries. I'm proud to support this commonsense effort to protect American families, defend the integrity of our immigration system, and close a gap that should never have existed in the first place."

International commercial surrogacy raises serious national security and humantrafficking concerns, but there arecurrently no U.S. laws on the books to address these issues. The SAFE KIDS Act addresses a gap in U.S. surrogacy law by:

• Invalidating any commercial surrogacy agreement that is entered into with citizens of a foreign adversarial nation; and
• Creating a misdemeanor for brokers-not surrogates-who knowingly or recklessly facilitate a prohibited commercial surrogacy agreement with citizens of a foreign adversarial nation.

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