The US Justice Department is now targeting ‘birth tourism schemes’ after the Supreme Court rejected President Donald Trump’s attempt to restrict birthright citizenship in the United States.
After the setback in the court, the has redirected its policies to target women who solely come to the US to give birth so their child will automatically be a citizen.
Justice Department official Colin McDonald told employees in a memo that people who come to the US under “false pretenses” to give birth and secure citizenship for their child could be criminally charged under laws barring visa fraud, money laundering, identity theft and wire fraud.
What is birth tourism?
“Birth tourism” refers to when, without longstanding ties to the United States, enter the country to give birth so their children can receive citizenship.
The Justice Department defended Trump’s order, claiming that birthright citizenship promotes the so-called ‘birth tourism’. McDonald’s memo claimed that “birth tourism schemes exploit our immigration system and violate criminal law.”
What did DoJ say?
In the memo, McDonald said the Department of Justice will investigate and hold accountable those who engage in this unlawful conduct, as well as those who solicit and sell these criminal services to others.
He also directed all United States Attorneys and the Criminal Division to work with the Department of Homeland Security to “prioritize the investigation and prosecution of birth tourism schemes.”
The memo shared on X read, “The Department of Justice will zealously protect the sanctity of United States citizenship by investigating and prosecuting those who fraudulently exploit our immigration system.”
Among other tools, the department can prosecute people who lie on their visa applications about why they’re coming to the US.
The DOJ memo is said to be an indication that the Trump administration intends to keep focus on the issue, part of its hardline approach to immigration, despite the setback at the court.
Is birth tourism illegal?
The so-called ‘birth tourism’ is itself not illegal as per any law in the US, but using a visa solely for this purpose, or misusing your visa, is not permitted.
The US Embassy in India had in 2025, “US consular officers will deny tourist visa applications if they believe the primary purpose of travel is to give birth in the United States to obtain US citizenship for the child. This is not permitted.”
The Trump administration has highlighted birth tourism, particularly from China, to justify its attempt to challenge birthright citizenship.
McDonald’s memo says, “The criminal laws of the United States already prohibit conduct inherent to many of these so-called ‘birth tourism’ schemes. For example, many such schemes start with a false visa application with lies about the purpose or duration of one’s travel to the United States-in violation of 18 USC § 1546.”
Citing some examples, McDonald said, “In 2024, a husband and wife, Michael Wei Yueh Liu and Jing Dong, were each sentenced to 41 months’ imprisonment for operating a birth tourism scheme with a business named ‘USA Happy Baby Inc’ that charged Chinese clients tens of thousands of dollars to help them give birth in the United States.”
What does an expert say?
US Immigration Lawyer Brad Bernstein explained that if immigration officers determine that a person’s sole purpose for visiting the US is to have a baby, then they can be denied entry or have their visa revoked.
– US Immigration Lawyer Brad Bernstein
“Many try to bend the rules, but the risks are high. If officials believe you’re misusing your visa, you could be banned from future travel to the US,” he said.
However, experts say it occurs relatively little compared to the more than 250,000 annual births of children to undocumented immigrants or temporary residents in the United States.
SC rejects Trump’s attempt to end birthright citizenship
Earlier, the Supreme Court, in a 6-3 ruling, struck down a that would have prevented children born in the US from automatically becoming citizens if neither parent is an American citizen or a legal permanent resident.
Trump’s order sought to restrict birthright citizenship to babies with at least one parent who is a, affecting an estimated 250,000 children born to undocumented immigrants and temporary visitors each year.
The latest Supreme Court ruling affirmed the longstanding right to citizenship for nearly all born in the US.
The court said an executive order Trump issued hours after his inauguration last year couldn’t be squared with the Constitution’s 14th Amendment, which has long been understood as guaranteeing citizenship to virtually everyone born on US soil.
“Citizenship, then and now, was the right to have rights — to freely participate in our political community,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the court, according to Bloomberg.
“The framers of the Fourteenth Amendment extended that promise to every free-born person in this land. We keep that promise today,” Roberts added.
