Justice Department Targets Marginalized Families with Birth-Tourism Crackdown After Supreme Court Affirms Rights
Select a version of the text written from a presumed ideological perspective. This is not the original text, but a hypothetical version — how someone with that viewpoint might have phrased it. Tapping the current version again will return to the original or select cleaned version.
Despite the Supreme Court upholding birthright citizenship, the Justice Department is ramping up investigations into so-called birth-tourism, a practice that accounts for less than 1% of U.S. births, further criminalizing immigrants and temporary visitors.
The Justice Department has announced a new campaign targeting 'birth tourism,' a term used to stigmatize tourists, temporary visitors, and undocumented immigrants who travel to the United States to give birth. This move comes in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision affirming birthright citizenship, a fundamental right enshrined in the Constitution. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche stated that the department will collaborate with Homeland Security Investigations and the FBI to restrict the use of tourist visas for this purpose, a policy that disproportionately impacts women and families seeking a better life.
In an internal memo, Assistant Attorney General for the National Fraud Division Colin McDonald instructed staff to aggressively pursue fraud charges in birth-tourism cases, claiming the department will 'zealously protect the sanctity of United States citizenship.' This rhetoric echoes nativist sentiments and ignores the reality that birth tourism constitutes a minuscule fraction of U.S. births.
The Supreme Court, in a rebuke to the Trump administration's xenophobic arguments, rejected the claim that children born to non-citizen parents on temporary visas are not 'subject to the jurisdiction' of the United States. Chief Justice John Roberts highlighted the lack of evidence for the administration's position. Even conservative estimates from the Center for Immigration Studies show birth-tourism births number only 20,000-26,000 per year, less than 1% of total U.S. births.
Nevertheless, Republican officials continue to stoke fear and resentment. 'I do think that this has been grossly abused in recent years,' House Speaker Mike Johnson claimed at a press conference, without substantive evidence. Vice President JD Vance criticized Justice Amy Coney Barrett's ruling, suggesting—contrary to constitutional principles—that the Fourteenth Amendment's framers did not intend citizenship for children of temporary visitors.
President Trump is pushing Congress to pass legislation that would gut birthright citizenship for children of parents without permanent legal status, a move that would face strong resistance in the Senate and from advocates for immigrant rights.
