The Trump administration is turning to fraud prosecutions, visa screening, and border enforcement after the Supreme Court blocked its attempt to narrow birthright citizenship by executive order.
The court ruled on June 30 in Trump v. Barbara that children born in the United States to parents who are unlawfully or temporarily present are citizens at birth under the 14th Amendment.
That leaves the administration with a narrower path: it cannot deny citizenship to children born on U.S. soil under Trump’s order, but it can target people and businesses accused of lying to obtain visas, coaching clients to mislead border officers, moving money through illegal channels, or using false identities.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) confirmed to The Epoch Times that it has changed, expanded, or reissued birth-tourism guidance since the ruling.
Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald told U.S. attorneys and the Criminal Division on June 30 to work with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on birth-tourism investigations. His memo said foreign nationals were coming to the United States “under false pretenses” to give birth and secure citizenship for their children.
“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,” McDonald said in the memo.
McDonald told prosecutors to consider more than visa-fraud charges. He listed wire fraud, money laundering, illegal use of a means of identification, identity theft, and conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud as possible tools.
At a July 2 press conference, Attorney General Todd Blanche called birth tourism a “booming industry” and said DOJ would focus prosecutors and law-enforcement partners on stopping it.
DHS and other parts of the federal government, he said, have tools in the visa and application process to limit people who enter on tourist visas for the purpose of giving birth so the child becomes a U.S. citizen.
Targeting Birth Tourism
Federal prosecutors have already used those tools in cases involving Chinese-client birth-tourism networks.
In 2019, prosecutors in the Central District of California charged 19 people linked to three Southern California birth-tourism schemes. Authorities said the businesses catered mostly to Chinese clients and charged tens of thousands of dollars to help them give birth in the United States.
The indictments alleged that clients lied on visitor visa applications about why they were coming, how long they would stay, and where they would live.
Operators allegedly coached customers on consular interviews, advised them to wear loose clothing to conceal pregnancies at ports of entry, and routed travel through Hawaii before sending them to Los Angeles.
In another case, Michael Wei Yueh Liu of Rancho Cucamonga, California, was sentenced in December 2024 to 41 months in federal prison for running a birth-tourism business for wealthy Chinese clients. Prosecutors said Liu and a partner operated a maternity house, gave clients visa and customs-entry guidance, and told them how to hide pregnancies from immigration officers.
McDonald’s memo also cited Chao “Edwin” Chen, a Chinese fugitive whose business allegedly claimed a 100-person team in China and the United States and more than 500 Chinese birth-tourism customers.
DHS Points to China Risk
DHS did not directly answer whether it had changed any birth-tourism enforcement guidance after the Supreme Court ruling.
Instead, the department pointed to comments from Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin on Fox News, where he criticized the ruling and described Chinese birth tourism as a national security concern.
“If you look at the reason for the 14th Amendment, again, this is way outside what has happened, especially with China and their tourist visas that they get to come into the United States or our territories just simply to give birth,” Mullin said.
He said some people come late in pregnancy, give birth, return to China, and raise the child under the Chinese regime even though the child is a U.S. citizen.
Mullin said that some later return to the United States, attend American universities, and steal intellectual property.
“This is truly a national security risk that we’re having,” Mullin said.
He said officials were “relooking at it” after conversations with the White House, Trump, border czar Tom Homan, and homeland security adviser Stephen Miller about how to respond while working within the court’s ruling.
Visa Screening
The State Department did not respond by publication time to questions about whether it issued new consular guidance after Trump v. Barbara.
Existing rules already give consular officers a tool. Since January 2020, State Department rules have said officers overseas must deny a B visa application if they have reason to believe the applicant is traveling primarily to give birth in the United States so the child can obtain citizenship.
That rule does not make pregnancy illegal. It also does not bar genuine medical travel by applicants who can pay for their care.
It targets applicants whose main purpose is obtaining U.S. citizenship for a child while presenting the trip as ordinary tourism.
