Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s vow that “American citizenship is not for sale” has run straight into an awkward contradiction.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Rubio announced a new State Department task force aimed at cracking down on so-called birth tourism.
In the post, he accused foreign nationals of exploiting U.S. immigration laws by traveling to the country to give birth and secure citizenship for their children.
He said “elaborate birth tourism rings” were coaching foreigners to manipulate the visa system, arranging travel and housing and even forging documents.
“The State Department established a Birth Tourism Prevention Task Force to review the activity of visa holders, dismantle illegal birth tourism networks, and put an end to this heinous abuse of our nation’s laws,” Rubio wrote.
He said the task force had already revoked more than 600 visas in a single month.
“The State Department will use all available tools to dismantle birth tourism networks and defend the integrity of U.S. citizenship,” Rubio added.
“American citizenship is not for sale,” Rubio wrote on X.
But the announcement immediately drew attention to another Trump administration immigration initiative: the Trump Gold Card.
The program allows wealthy foreigners to obtain U.S. residency after paying a $1 million contribution, plus a $15,000 Department of Homeland Security processing fee and completing background checks.
The official program describes it as providing U.S. residency “in record time.”
Gold Card holders do not receive instant citizenship. Instead, the program creates an expedited pathway to lawful permanent residence, from which they can eventually seek citizenship if they meet the applicable requirements.
That distinction did little to stop critics from pointing out the administration’s hypocrisy.
“The Trump administration is literally selling US citizenship,” one person wrote.
“Tell me more about the Trump gold card. Citizenship is quite literally for sale,” another wrote.
The post was also hit with a community note.
“While the post states ‘American citizenship is not for sale,’ the U.S. government offers the ‘Gold Card’ program. Under Executive Order 14351, foreign nationals can obtain U.S. residency and a pathway to citizenship for a $1 million to $2 million gift,” the note read.
The Daily Beast has contacted the State Department for comment.
Trump himself previously touted the program as “the green card on steroids.”
The administration has also promoted the Gold Card as a potentially enormous source of revenue. Trump officials have said the program could generate more than $1 billion, with Trump previously suggesting it could eventually raise as much as $1 trillion.
But the rollout has been far less impressive than the sales pitch. As of April, only 165 people had paid the $15,000 visa processing fee, according to a court filing by the Department of Homeland Security.
Meanwhile, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick admitted in April that only one person had been formally approved for the program.
Rapper Nicki Minaj, who has increasingly embraced the MAGA movement, appeared to suggest earlier this year that she had obtained a Trump Gold Card. But the apparent flex was not what it seemed.
A White House official later told The New York Times that the card given to Minaj was merely a keepsake and had no bearing on her immigration status. Minaj, who was born in Trinidad and Tobago, has already been a lawful permanent U.S. resident for roughly two decades.
