The Trump administration is expanding its crackdown on so-called birth tourism, announcing new visa restrictions targeting foreign nationals who operate, assist, or profit from businesses that arrange for women to travel to the United States to give birth.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the new policy Wednesday, saying the State Department will restrict visas for people who knowingly participate in or facilitate commercial birth-tourism operations.
The restrictions can apply to owners, operators and managers of birth-tourism networks, visa intermediaries who instruct applicants to provide false information, foreign medical providers who knowingly assist the arrangements and others who help facilitate the practice.
Certain family members of people covered by the policy could also face restrictions, Breitbart News reported.
“Foreign commercial birth tourism networks have exploited the U.S. immigration system to sell U.S. citizenship for profit,” Rubio said in announcing the policy.
According to the State Department, some commercial operations advertise birth-tourism services overseas, coach clients on what to tell American consular officers and charge tens of thousands of dollars to arrange travel, housing and medical care in the United States.
Rubio said the new restrictions are intended to target both the businesses and individuals profiting from those arrangements.
The policy is being implemented under Section 212(a)(3)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which allows the secretary of state to determine that a foreign national’s entry would have potentially serious adverse foreign-policy consequences for the United States.
The State Department said the restrictions could also cover foreign medical providers who knowingly facilitate birth tourism, including cases involving fraudulent use of Medicaid.
“The United States will not allow foreigners to exploit our immigration system and violate the sanctity of U.S. citizenship,” Rubio said.
The announcement represents the latest step in a broader Trump administration campaign against birth tourism.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order Aug. 6 directing the State Department and Department of Homeland Security to take additional measures against the practice.
The order defined birth tourism as a foreign national entering the United States on a nonimmigrant visa for the purpose of giving birth or helping another foreign national enter for that purpose.
Trump’s order authorized the administration to prevent entry, revoke visas or other travel authorizations and potentially permanently bar foreign nationals determined to have participated in birth tourism.
It also directed federal agencies to take action against organizations and individuals, inside or outside the United States, that facilitate the practice.
Days later, the State Department established a Birth Tourism Prevention Task Force to identify visa holders suspected of participating in birth tourism and investigate commercial networks involved in arranging the travel.
The department has said the task force works with DHS and other federal agencies to review visa records, identify potential fraud and revoke visas when appropriate.
State Department rules already prohibit foreign nationals from obtaining a B-2 visitor visa when consular officers determine that their primary purpose for traveling to the United States is giving birth in order to obtain American citizenship for their child.
The rule does not prohibit pregnant women from visiting the United States for legitimate purposes.
Foreign nationals can also seek visitor visas for medical treatment, provided they satisfy applicable visa requirements and demonstrate that they can pay their medical expenses.
The new policy goes further by specifically targeting the commercial infrastructure surrounding birth tourism rather than focusing exclusively on the traveler.
That distinction could allow the administration to pursue overseas travel agents, consultants, business operators and medical professionals who may never personally travel to the United States to give birth but who allegedly help arrange such trips.
Immigration attorneys noted that significant implementation questions remain.
The State Department’s announcement does not spell out what evidence officials will require before imposing restrictions, precisely how affected family members will be identified or what review procedures will be available to someone denied a visa under the policy.
Birth tourism has been a federal enforcement issue for years, Breitbart reported.
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