Congresswoman King-Hinds disputes letter’s claim that EVS-TAP is a Biden administration program
SAIPAN — Thirty-four Republican members of Congress sent a letter to the secretaries of Homeland Security, State and the Interior on March 9 urging the Trump administration to end visa waiver and parole programs that allow Chinese nationals to enter the CNMI without a standard visa. The letter argues the programs have fueled birth tourism and created potential national security vulnerabilities.
The letter, led by Representatives Chip Roy of Texas and Tom Tiffany of Wisconsin, asks Secretaries Kristi Noem, Marco Rubio and Doug Burgum to end “any parole, VWP, or any visa-less programs extended to Chinese citizens” and provide a full accounting of birth tourism activity in the CNMI since 2009.
The signatories include Reps. Eli Crane, Scott Perry, Andy Ogles, Barry Moore, Byron Donalds, Randy Fine, Mary E. Miller, Nancy Mace, Elise Stefanik, Anna Paulina Luna, Ronny L. Jackson and 22 others.
The letter claims a 2009 Obama administration parole program allowed Chinese nationals to bypass the standard visa process to enter the CNMI, resulting in a surge in births to Chinese mothers in Saipan, from fewer than 10 in 2009 to nearly 600 in 2018. It also targets the CNMI Economic Vitality and Security Travel Authorization Program, known as EVS-TAP, describing it as a Biden administration creation that increases the likelihood of birth tourism by allowing Chinese nationals to enter the CNMI for up to 14 days without a visa.
That characterization is disputed by Congresswoman Kimberlyn King-Hinds, who said during an appearance on Good Morning Marianas Thursday morning that EVS-TAP was negotiated under the first Trump administration by then-Governor Ralph Torres. She said the Biden administration only implemented rules that had already been established under Trump.
“It’s a misnomer to say that this is a Biden or an Obama program,” King-Hinds said. “This is a Trump one program.”
The letter’s primary sourcing for its central claim, that between 750,000 and 1.5 million Chinese nationals hold U.S. citizenship obtained through birth tourism, is a January 2025 article from Breitbart News.
King-Hinds has confirmed her team met with staff for Senator Jim Banks, one of the authors of a parallel Senate letter on the same subject, and said Banks’ office appeared receptive to the CNMI’s counter-arguments. She has also said she is considering introducing legislation that would end birthright citizenship for children born in the CNMI to parents on tourist visas, framing it as a direct response to the birth tourism argument being used against the islands’ visa programs.
The full text of the letter and a complete list of signatories is available below
