The Northern Marianas wants the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to force airlines flying to the islands to adopt pre-screening and other strategies to deter travel to the islands for the sole purpose of giving birth.
A child born in the CNMI automatically becomes a U.S. citizen and it is thought the practice of pregnant Asian women travelling to the territory to have their babies is common.
The CNMI governor, Eloy Inos, and the territory's delegate to the US Congress, Gregorio Kilili Sablan, says charter operators have been the most successful in screening tourists and in effect helping stop the birth tourism traffic.
Both leaders say many of those who come to Saipan solely for birth tourism travel on regular scheduled services on Asiana Airlines, and not on charter tour flights.
