The Trump administration has intensified efforts to dismantle networks that assist pregnant foreign nationals in obtaining U.S. citizenship for their newborns by misrepresenting visa applications. This initiative, known as the “Birth Tourism Initiative,” was announced through an internal U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) email circulated on Thursday, directing agents nationwide to prioritize investigations into these schemes.
Birth tourism involves pregnant women traveling to the United States to give birth, thereby securing automatic citizenship for their children under U.S. law. President Trump has used this issue to justify his broader agenda aimed at curbing both legal and illegal immigration since taking office in January 2025. White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly emphasized that unrestricted birth tourism imposes significant costs on taxpayers and poses national security risks, noting that most countries do not grant automatic citizenship at birth.
While the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) declined to comment on specific investigations, it acknowledged awareness of networks facilitating birth tourism. DHS clarified that although giving birth in the U.S. is not illegal, the department remains committed to identifying and addressing any federal law violations connected to these activities.
No federal law explicitly bans birth tourism; however, a 2020 regulation enacted during Trump’s first term prohibits using temporary tourist or business visas primarily to obtain citizenship for a newborn. Individuals involved in such schemes may face prosecution for fraud or related offenses.
There are no official statistics on the number of foreign nationals who come to the U.S. solely to give birth or the associated taxpayer costs. The Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for reduced immigration, estimated that between 20,000 and 25,000 mothers engaged in birth tourism during a one-year period from 2016 to 2017. In comparison, there were 3.6 million births in the U.S. in 2025, indicating that birth tourism constitutes a small fraction of total births.
Republicans have cited birth tourism as a justification for limiting birthright citizenship, a practice enshrined in the Constitution. On his first day in office, Trump issued an executive order directing federal agencies not to recognize citizenship for children born in the U.S. if neither parent is a citizen or legal permanent resident, a move that challenged over a century of legal precedent. This order was blocked by multiple federal judges and is currently under review by the Supreme Court, which heard oral arguments last week.
U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer, representing the administration, argued that automatic citizenship has fostered a widespread birth tourism industry. He claimed that thousands of individuals from “potentially hostile nations” travel to the U.S. to give birth, creating generations of American citizens abroad with limited ties to the country.
ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations division is leading the new crackdown, aiming to uncover fraudulent activities linked to birth tourism. The agency plans to disrupt fraud, financial crimes, and organized networks exploiting immigration processes, though the number of cases they might uncover remains uncertain.
In a notable 2019 federal case, over a dozen individuals were charged in connection with “birth houses” in Southern California catering to affluent Chinese women. Chinese national Dongyuan Li pleaded guilty to federal charges related to the scheme and was sentenced to 10 months in prison, released in December 2019. Another defendant, Chao “Edwin” Chen, received a three-year sentence in 2020 but had fled to China prior to sentencing.
