The Trump administration has revoked at least 4,000 visas tied to birth tourism, the practice of traveling to the United States to give birth so the child receives U.S. citizenship, the White House announced on October 20. The State Department’s Birth Tourism Prevention Task Force has revoked more than 700 visas held by Chinese nationals since its August launch.
The crackdown follows the Supreme Court’s June 30 ruling in Trump v. Barbara, which rejected Trump’s January 2025 executive order limiting birthright citizenship by a 6–3 vote.
On August 6, Trump signed two orders targeting birth tourism. At the Oval Office signing, he called the ruling a “very unfortunate decision” and said the birth tourism order “keeps American citizenship sacred,” according to CNN.
Ending Birth Tourism directs the State Department and Department of Homeland Security to deny or revoke visas, deny entry, and remove foreign nationals who engage in or plan to engage in birth tourism. It also targets facilitators, accusing operators of deceptive advertising and visa abuse that divert consular resources and undermine national security.
As detailed in my previous reporting, birth tourism agencies have marketed comprehensive packages to Chinese clients, combining visa assistance, airport transfers, housing, meals, medical referrals, and newborn documentation. Some also supplied maternity caregivers to supervise the traditional month-long postpartum recovery, handling arrangements from the visa interview through the family’s return to China.
The businesses could operate at substantial scale. One agency maintained more than 15 properties in Los Angeles and San Francisco and handled between 600 and 1,000 pregnant clients annually. Operators coached women on visa interviews and sometimes recommended entering through Las Vegas or Hawaii, where they believed screening would be easier. Federal prosecutions have also cited money laundering and fraudulent applications for discounted hospital care.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the Birth Tourism Prevention Task Force on August 12. “American citizenship is not for sale,” he wrote on X, accusing birth tourism rings of coaching applicants to defraud the visa system. The task force reviews travel histories using State Department and Homeland Security data. The Justice Department has also directed prosecutors to prioritize prosecutions involving birth tourism.
On September 23, Rubio announced a visa restriction policy targeting network operators, visa fixers, foreign medical providers who knowingly facilitate birth tourism and Medicaid fraud, and other participants. Certain family members may also face restrictions.
In early October, according to a State Department cable obtained by Politico, diplomatic posts were ordered to review flight manifests from January 24, 2020, through August 1, 2026, for suspected cases. Findings are due by the end of November.
Trump’s companion citizenship order bars citizenship documents for certain children whose parents obtained or sought birthright citizenship through commercial transactions or fraud, when neither parent is a U.S. citizen.
On September 2, U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman in Maryland issued a preliminary injunction blocking that order’s application to a certified class of children. She wrote that it was “almost certainly unconstitutional” as applied to them because the Supreme Court had already determined that they were citizens at birth.
The State Department’s September implementation plan limits the policy to future births. Three families filed a nationwide class action in Washington, D.C., on September 28. On October 7, the Justice Department asked Boardman to dissolve the injunction, arguing that the policy’s prospective application left the original plaintiff families without standing.
The visa crackdown builds on earlier enforcement. The State Department barred birth tourism on B-1 and B-2 visitor visas in January 2020, during Trump’s first term. In June 2026, it announced that it had disrupted networks abroad. An embassy in West Africa uncovered more than 100 people using fraudulent documents and visa fixers. An embassy in Europe identified more than 400 suspected cases tied to companies arranging visa coaching, housing, and deliveries, while an embassy in North Africa revoked more than 100 visas.
Earlier prosecutions illustrate the business’s scale. In January 2019, federal prosecutors in Los Angeles charged 19 people linked to three schemes serving mostly Chinese clients. You Win USA served more than 500 customers, charging $40,000 to $80,000 each. USA Happy Baby charged some clients as much as $100,000 and served people associated with Chinese government bodies. Its co-operator, Jing Dong, was later sentenced to more than three years in prison.
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