Washington DC. The US State Department has proposed new rules that would require parents or legal guardians to prove their citizenship or immigration status when applying for a child's passport.

According to draft State Department guidance obtained by Reuters, children born in the U.S. must also submit their parents' citizenship or immigration documents during passport applications. The government will determine whether the child is eligible for US citizenship based on those documents.

If the proposal is implemented, US citizen parents will have to submit documents such as a valid US passport or birth certificate. Immigrant parents may need to show documents such as an I-94 form or a permanent residence permit, i.e. a green card.

Currently, in the passport application of children born in the United States, it is enough for the parents to submit a photo ID and a document proving their relationship with the child. Although the information about whether or not the parents are US citizens must be given in the application form, there is no provision to submit the proof separately.

The new proposal is tied to efforts to implement an executive order issued by President Trump on August 6. The order seeks to add some exceptions to the provision of automatic citizenship upon birth in the United States.

According to the proposed system, if one of the parents of a child born in the United States is a person working for a foreign government on the land of the US government, if they have committed fraud or business dealings to obtain citizenship, or if they fall into the category of "alien enemy", the child's citizenship may be affected.

The Trump administration has taken such a step targeting the tendency of pregnant women to come to America especially for the purpose of 'birth tourism' i.e. giving birth to a child and obtaining American citizenship. Earlier, Trump issued another executive order limiting birthright citizenship.

In it, it was sought to provide that a child who does not have at least one parent who is an American citizen or a green card holder will not automatically be given American citizenship based on birth. But the US Supreme Court ruled the order illegal in a 6-3 decision.

The majority of the judges said that such an arrangement is against the provisions related to citizenship in the 14th Amendment of the Constitution. Trump's latest order has also faced challenges in court. Lawyers fighting on behalf of newborns who may lose their citizenship at birth have requested two federal courts to stop the implementation of the order.

One of those cases is being heard in the bench of the federal judge Deborah Boardman appointed by President Joe Biden. During a hearing in Maryland on Friday, Boardman expressed her doubts about Trump's order, calling it unprecedented. But the lawyers of the US Department of Justice have argued that an immediate ban is not appropriate.

They said it was premature to challenge the federal agencies without even issuing detailed public instructions to implement the order.