Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) is back on his favorite hobbyhorse: restricting commercial surrogacy arrangements that involve foreign adversaries. His argument? China is exploiting U.S. birthright citizenship through birth tourism, and he wants to shut it down.

Scott Targets Chinese Birth Tourism

On Tuesday, Scott took to X to say that "Communist China is weaponizing birthright citizenship to infiltrate our country," sharing a clip of his Senate floor speech alongside the post.

"I just went to the Senate floor to pass my SAFE KIDS Act to stop this dangerous birth tourism scam, and Democrats blocked it!" he said. "Whose side are they on? We need to PROTECT AMERICAN CITIZENSHIP!"

SAFE KIDS Act Targets Foreign Surrogacy

In his Senate speech, Scott argued that foreign nationals can use U.S. surrogacy arrangements to have children born in America without ever setting foot in the country themselves.

"American citizenship should not be for sale, and our enemies cannot be allowed to buy it," he said.

Scott cited the case of Florida surrogate Kyla Simpson, who he said had children for a Chinese national who never arrived to take custody.

He also referenced Chinese businessman Xu Bo, alleging he has fathered between 100 and 300 American children through surrogacy.

Scott's bill would invalidate commercial surrogacy contracts involving designated foreign adversaries, including China, Iran, Russia and North Korea. It would also establish a misdemeanor penalty for brokers who knowingly facilitate prohibited arrangements.

He sought unanimous consent for the Senate to immediately consider and pass S. 3101, but the effort was unsuccessful.

Birthright Citizenship Debate Intensifies

Earlier this month, the State Department reportedly proposed requiring parents to provide proof of their citizenship or immigration status when applying for their children's U.S. passports as part of efforts to enforce President Donald Trump's executive order targeting "birth tourism."

In July, Gov. Greg Abbott (R-Texas) ordered an investigation into a hospital accused of marketing birth packages to foreign nationals, saying birth tourism exploited U.S. citizenship laws.

Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said the Supreme Court had reaffirmed birthright citizenship, arguing that people born in the U.S. were American citizens under the Fourteenth Amendment.

Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by MarketDash editors.