The Trump administration has launched a new ICE “Birth Tourism Initiative” to investigate networks that help pregnant foreign nationals lie on visa applications to give birth in the U.S. for citizenship, as the administration awaits a Supreme Court ruling on restricting birthright citizenship.
The Trump administration has ordered federal investigators to crack down on networks that help pregnant foreign nationals lie on visa applications to secure U.S. citizenship for their babies, according to an internal email reviewed by Reuters.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced a new “Birth Tourism Initiative,” directing agents nationwide to root out fraudulent schemes exploiting birthright citizenship. White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said, “Uninhibited birth tourism poses a tremendous cost to taxpayers and threatens our national security.”
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson added, “While the act of giving birth in the United States is not unlawful, DHS remains focused on identifying and addressing potential violations of federal law associated with these activities.”
Trump issued an executive order on his first day in office seeking to deny citizenship to children born in the U.S. to non-citizen parents, but federal judges have blocked it. The Supreme Court heard oral arguments last week. U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer argued that automatic citizenship had encouraged “a sprawling industry of birth tourism” and people from “potentially hostile nations” coming to give birth.
There are no official figures on birth tourism, but a 2020 analysis estimated between 20,000 and 25,000 mothers came to the U.S. for that purpose annually.