For more than a century, the United States has granted citizenship to nearly everyone born on its soil under the Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. This constitutional principle—known as birthright citizenship or jus soli—has made the United States one of the world’s most attractive destinations for expectant parents seeking a better future for their children.
While most children born in America are born to US citizens or permanent residents, a small but highly visible industry has emerged around birth tourism—the practice of traveling to the United States on temporary visas primarily to give birth so the child automatically becomes an American citizen.
Today, birth tourism has become a major political issue. The Trump administration has renewed efforts to crack down on the practice, even after the US Supreme Court reaffirmed constitutional birthright citizenship.
What Is Birth Tourism?
Birth tourism refers to the practice of foreign nationals traveling to another country specifically to give birth there.
In the United States, a child born on American soil is generally granted US citizenship under the Fourteenth Amendment, regardless of the parents’ immigration status, with narrow exceptions such as children of foreign diplomats.
Parents themselves do not automatically receive citizenship or permanent residence because their child is born in the United States. However, once that child reaches age 21, they may petition for certain family members to immigrate legally, subject to immigration law.
A Brief History
Birthright citizenship became part of the US Constitution in 1868 following the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment after the Civil War.
The principle was firmly established by the US Supreme Court in the landmark 1898 decision in United States v. Wong Kim Ark, whose hero that nearly everyone was born on US soil, is an American citizen.
For decades, relatively few foreigners traveled specifically for childbirth. However, globalization, easier international travel, and growing wealth in countries such as China, Russia, South Korea, Nigeria, and Brazil led to the emergence of commercial birth tourism beginning in the 1990s and expanding rapidly during the 2000s.
The Birth Tourism Industry
A specialized international industry developed around helping foreign families give birth in America.
Services commonly advertised include:
- Visa application assistance
- Luxury maternity housing
- Hospital and obstetrician arrangements
- Transportation
- Translation services
- Newborn passport and birth certificate assistance
- Airport pickup and accommodation
- Postpartum care
Some companies openly advertise that their primary selling point is obtaining US citizenship for the baby.
Popular destinations have included:
- California
- Florida
- Texas
- Nevada
California, especially the Los Angeles area, became one of the world’s largest birth tourism hubs due to its large immigrant communities and established support networks.
Legitimate Businesses vs. Illegal Conduct
It is important to distinguish between legal maternity travel and illegal fraud.
Legal
Traveling to the United States while pregnant is not illegal.
Likewise, giving birth in the United States while on a valid visa is not automatically illegal.
Many women travel for:
- Better medical care
- Safer childbirth
- High-risk pregnancies
- Family support
- Temporary work or study while pregnant
If they truthfully disclose the purpose of travel, pay medical expenses, and comply with immigration law, no crime necessarily occurs.
Illegal
Problems arise when travelers or businesses engage in fraud.
Federal prosecutions have focused on cases involving:
- Lying on visa applications
- Concealing pregnancy from immigration officials
- Misrepresenting the purpose of travel
- Money laundering
- Tax evasion
- Health care fraud
- Helping clients evade hospital bills
These are immigration or financial crimes—not crimes based simply on giving birth in America.
High profile enforcement cases
Federal authorities have prosecuted several commercial birth tourism businesses over the past decade.
Among the better-known cases:
- USA Happy Babyoperated in California, catered largely to affluent Chinese clients charging tens of thousands of dollars per customer. Operators were convicted on immigration-related charges.
- You Win USAanother California operation, allegedly served more than 500 clients and generated millions of dollars before its operators were prosecuted.
- A New York-based operator marketing birth tourism services to Turkish-speaking clients was convicted of visa fraud.
- Multiple Long Island defendants were charged after allegedly using Medicaid fraud to finance births for foreign visitors.
Authorities generally targeted fraud rather than childbirth itself.
Positive Cases Often Overlooked
Birth tourism is politically controversial, but many children born under birthright citizenship have gone on to make significant contributions to American society.
Examples include families who:
- Later immigrated legally
- Started businesses
- Served in the US military
- Became doctors, engineers, scientists, entrepreneurs, and public servants
Supporters argue that birthright citizenship reflects America’s historical identity as a nation of immigrants and prevents statelessness.
Critics counter that the commercial exploitation of citizenship undermines the integrity of immigration.
How big is the problem?
One striking aspect of the debate is the lack of precise government data.
Even during litigation over birthright citizenship, attorneys for the federal government acknowledged that no definitive nationwide statistics exist.
The frequently cited estimate from the Center for Immigration Studies places the annual number of births to women on tourist visas at approximately 20,000-26,000.
Given that approximately 3.6 million babies are born annually in the United States, these births represent less than 1% of all US births.
Trump’s Efforts to Restrict Birth Tourism
During both of his presidential campaigns, Donald Trump argued that birthright citizenship encourages abuse of the immigration system.
His administration has pursued several policies.
2020 Visa Restrictions
During Trump’s first administration, the State Department adopted regulations allowing consular officers to deny visitor visas when they believed the primary purpose of travel was to obtain US citizenship for a child.
The rule focused on visa issuance rather than changing constitutional citizenship.
2025 Executive Order
Following his return to office, Trump signed an executive order seeking to deny automatic citizenship to many children born in the United States to parents who were unlawfully present or temporarily in the country.
The order immediately faced constitutional challenges in multiple federal courts.
Supreme Court and the Current Situation
In 2026, the US Supreme Court rejected the administration’s effort to narrow the constitutional guarantee of birthright citizenship, reaffirming that children born in the United States remain citizens under existing constitutional doctrine. (
Although the ruling preserved birthright citizenship, it did not end the administration’s broader enforcement efforts against alleged fraud.
The New DOJ and ICE Crackdown
Immediately after the Supreme Court decision, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced a renewed federal campaign against birth tourism.
Blanche stated that the Department of Justice would work with:
- Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
- Homeland Security Investigations (HSI)
- the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
to investigate individuals and businesses allegedly abusing tourist visas to obtain US citizenship for children.
He emphasizes strengthening visa screening and identifying applicants who falsely claim they are entering for tourism while intending to give birth.
Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald separately instructed federal prosecutors to prioritize fraud investigations involving birth tourism, including possible visa fraud, wire fraud, money laundering, and identity theft.
Although news reports describe the administration as mobilizing immigration enforcement resources—including coordination with DHS and HSI—the announced strategy is focused on investigating and prosecuting fraudulent schemes and commercial facilitatorsrather than making childbirth itself illegal.
A Continuing National Debate
Birth tourism remains one of the most contentious issues in American immigration policy.
Supporters of stricter enforcement argue that commercial birth tourism exploits US immigration laws and should be stopped through stronger visa screening and fraud prosecutions.
Supporters of birthright citizenship respond that the constitutional guarantee has served the nation for more than 150 years, that commercial abuse should be addressed through existing fraud laws rather than altering citizenship rules, and that the number of births linked to tourism remains a very small share of all US births.
As the Trump administration expands investigations into alleged birth tourism businesses while the Supreme Court maintains constitutional birthright citizenship, the debate is likely to remain at the center of US immigration politics for years to come.