Amid strict immigration policies, former U.S. President Donald Trump has provided new good news. He announced that green card applicants, or those applying for permanent resident status, will no longer need to show proof of a COVID-19 vaccination certificate.
This information was revealed on the website of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
It stated that applicants seeking adjustment to lawful permanent resident status are no longer required to submit any documentation proving COVID-19 vaccination. This requirement has been waived, and the decision came into effect on Wednesday (January 22).
Media reports also indicate that, after beginning his second term, Trump expanded measures to remove undocumented immigrants from the U.S. Those unable to provide proof of residing in the U.S. for two years or more will fall under this directive.
During his presidential campaign, starting in 2015, Trump had raised the issue of abolishing birthright citizenship. At that time, he argued in a policy paper that birthright citizenship is the biggest magnet for illegal immigration. In a 2023 video, Trump claimed that immigrants spend the last few weeks of pregnancy in hotels to give birth in the U.S. and secure citizenship for their child. He referred to this practice as “birth tourism.”
Once a child is born, these immigrants bring their relatives to the U.S. through a process known as “chain migration,” also called family-based migration. During his first term as president, Trump sought to abolish birthright citizenship. However, he did not implement such a measure, as the COVID-19 pandemic began to take his administration’s full attention.
Trump described birthright citizenship as laughable, claiming that the U.S. is the only country in the world that offers such a guarantee. However, the CIA’s World Factbook reports that around 40 countries worldwide provide birthright citizenship.