State Department Launches Birth Tourism Prevention Task Force

The activity of visa holders worldwide is under review, the department stated.

Migrant families from Haiti are taken into custody by a U.S. Border Patrol agent in Yuma, Ariz., on Dec. 7, 2021. John Moore/Getty Images

The Department of State on Aug. 12 announced the existence of a task force that has already revoked hundreds of visas from foreign nationals accused of exploiting U.S. immigration laws.

The announcement of the Birth Tourism Prevention Task Force comes as President Donald Trump issued new orders in response to a June 30 Supreme Court decision that overturned his bid to end automatic citizenship for ​children born in the United States to parents who are illegal immigrants or temporary visitors.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio drew attention to the issue of visa abuse on X.

“Elaborate birth tourism rings are profiting off the exploitation of America’s laws—coaching foreigners to defraud the U.S. visa system, arranging travel and housing, and even forging documents, all to enable foreign nationals to obtain citizenship for their children,” he said.

The activity of visa holders worldwide is under review. According to a fact sheet, the department stands ready to revoke the visas of individuals suspected of engaging in or facilitating birth tourism. The goal is to dismantle any networks involved in such abuses and hold them accountable.

Using State Department information and data from other federal agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security, the task force has revoked more than 600 visas in one month.

The federal government and consular officers at U.S. embassies and consulates around the world have reported widespread examples of deception in visa applications, according to the State Department.

It noted a foreign couple who twice lied on visa applications—claiming a conference and a vacation—then gave birth to two children on U.S. soil on separate occasions.

The couple’s visas were revoked.

Another foreign national applied for a visa to vacation in Orlando. She instead flew to Los Angeles, where she gave birth five days after her arrival.

Spotlight on Citizenship Rules

In one of the most consequential opinions of the Supreme Court’s 2025–2026 term, the justices ruled 6–3 to strike down Trump’s executive order that aimed at excluding children of illegal immigrants and temporary visa holders from obtaining U.S. citizenship at birth.

“A child born on American soil and subject to American law was made an American citizen,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the majority opinion.

Trump had vowed to ask the high court to rehear the case, although such requests are almost never granted.

“This miscarriage of justice will destroy America if they don’t change their absolutely insane decision,” the president said at the time.

However, the administration missed the July 27 deadline to file its petition.

Trump’s two new executive orders, signed on Aug. 6, attempt to limit birthright citizenship by banning birth tourism and expanding the definition of people considered ineligible for birthright citizenship, according to deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller.

The American Civil Liberties Union and other groups asked a federal judge on Aug. 11 to block enforcement of Trump’s new executive orders.