Trump admin puts alleged 'birth tourism' scheme on notice as expert delivers warning to hospitals
The Trump administration is using visa enforcement to target "birth tourism," an alleged scheme utilized by foreign nationals to obtain visitor visas for the primary purpose of giving birth in the U.S. and securing American citizenship for their children.
The Trump administration recently announced that it disrupted "a sophisticated birth tourism network" in West Africa involving more than 100 foreign nationals utilizing false documents and, what the State Department described as "fixers," to get themselves visas to go to the United States to give birth so their children would be born on U.S. soil and treated as American citizens.
But that was just one of the networks the State Department indicated it had uncovered. The agency's announcement said U.S. officials identified more than 400 suspected birth tourism cases emanating from Europe since 2024, and tied to at least six companies that helped coach applicants on what to say during their visa interview, arranged housing and set-up delivery plans.
"We shut it down, revoked these foreign nationals’ visas, and are coordinating with local authorities to systematically identify and cut off any similar operations," the State Department said in its announcement. "A U.S. visa is a privilege, not a right. The State Department is taking action around the world to stop this abuse, dismantle birth tourism networks, and hold accountable those who try to scam our system."
The effort comes as Trump has renewed his long-running criticism of birthright citizenship, including through a 2025 executive order seeking to narrow who is automatically treated as a U.S. citizen at birth. It also builds on a first-term Trump administration rule from 2020 that instructed consular officers to deny visitor visas to foreign nationals believed to be traveling to the U.S. primarily to give birth and obtain American citizenship for their children.
"President Trump will always put the American people first. Uninhibited birth tourism poses a tremendous cost to taxpayers and threatens our national security," White House spokesperson Anna Kelly told Fox News Digital. "The Trump administration is effectively ending this practice, which brings the United States in line with the policy of most countries around the world."
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Federation for American Immigration Reform's Ira Mehlman noted to Fox News Digital that visa fraud is "a significant issue," pointing out it is a problem even outside the framework of birth tourism.
"The prospect of birthright citizenship is undeniably an inducement for people to commit visa fraud," Mehlman said. "Birth tourism would not exist otherwise."
"Obviously, any woman who does not disclose her intention to have her baby in the U.S. when she applies for a visa is committing fraud. Remove the incentive of automatic birthright citizenship for people who are not citizens and legal permanent residents, and the reason for committing this sort of fraud goes away," he continued.
Birth tourism has surfaced repeatedly in the U.S. in recent years, particularly through operations accused of coaching foreign nationals to obscure the purpose of their travel.
In California, federal prosecutors secured convictions against the operators of USA Happy Baby, a company accused of helping Chinese women travel to the U.S. to give birth to American-citizen children, while a separate operator from a business called You Win USA pleaded guilty in another case stemming from a broader federal crackdown.
More recently, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued a Houston-area postpartum center accused of facilitating more than 1,000 births for primarily Chinese clients, while House Oversight Republicans launched an inquiry into several U.S.-based companies allegedly advertising birth-tourism services.
Mehlman urged Congress to do more to enhance vetting of visa applicants, prosecute those who commit fraud and put an end to birth tourism. He said there were avenues for legal action against the entities allegedly facilitating the scheme.
"To the extent that we can take legal action against companies that are outside the United States, we should, much like we prosecute other types of transnational crime and fraud operations," Mehlman told Fox News Digital. "But each one of these companies works with service providers here in the U.S., including hospitals."