/ Source: The Associated Press
The State Department has agreed to change the way it scrutinizes passport applications from people who were delivered by midwives along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Hundreds of border residents had their passport applications denied or simply closed without explanation in recent years because they were delivered by midwife. The government had identified some midwives who fraudulently registered births in the U.S.
The settlement, which still awaits court approval, was announced Friday by the American Civil Liberties Union. The State Department confirmed the deal.
The department agreed to allow those denied a passport the right to appeal, and will weigh the authenticity of midwife birth registrations on a case by case basis.