While Americans anxiously await the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on birthright citizenship, the U.S. State Department is taking steps to shut down “birth tourism” networks around the world. On Wednesday, the State Department announced that it has uncovered more than 600 instances of foreign nationals visiting the U.S. in order to give birth on U.S. soil and obtain U.S. citizenship for their children.

“Under President Trump, the State Department is defending the integrity of U.S. citizenship by ending illegal birth tourism schemes,” the State Department said in a social media post. “No foreigner is permitted to obtain a visitor visa for the primary purpose of acquiring U.S. citizenship for a child by giving birth in the U.S.”

According to the State Department, a U.S. embassy in West Africa discovered “a sophisticated birth tourism network” responsible for sending at least 100 foreign nationals into the U.S. to give birth. The foreigners relied on fraudulent documents and visa “fixers” to gain entry to the U.S. “We shut it down, revoked these foreign nationals’ visas, and are coordinating with local authorities to systematically identify and cut off any similar operations,” the State Department reported. A similar network was identified by a U.S. embassy in North Africa, where more than 100 visas for foreign nationals were revoked due to their involvement in the birth tourism scheme. “Consular officers — working with law enforcement and using data analytics — identified several networks abusing the system and put a stop to it,” the federal agency shared.

Another U.S. embassy, this one in Europe, identified at least 400 cases of birth tourism since 2024 alone. American investigators found that at least six companies profited from facilitating this birth tourism, coaching foreign nationals before consular visa interviews to ensure entry and obscure information that may indicate that the foreigners are inadmissible under U.S. laws. The companies also arranged for U.S. housing for the foreigners and set up medical appointments and laid out birth plans, so that the foreign nationals could obtain U.S. citizenship for their children.

“We shut it down, revoked their visas, and permanently banned several fraudsters from traveling to the United States ever again,” the State Department relayed. “A U.S. visa is a privilege, not a right. The State Department is taking action around the world to stop this abuse, dismantle birth tourism networks, and hold accountable those who try to scam our system.”

Shortly after returning to the White House in 2025, President Donald Trump issued an executive order to shield American sovereignty and citizenship, declaring that U.S. citizenship is not to be conferred upon the children of illegal immigrants or foreign nationals in the U.S. on a temporary basis, and should instead only be granted to children born in the U.S. either to U.S. citizen parents or to parents who are legal permanent residents domiciled in the U.S. The case is currently before the Supreme Court, where a ruling on the matter is expected in the coming days or weeks.

In comments to The Washington Stand, Lora Ries, director of the Heritage Foundation’s Border Security and Immigration Center, said, “U.S. citizenship is not for sale. Nothing shows how exploited our immigration laws have become more than a birth tourism industry starting and thriving based on an obviously erroneous interpretation of the 14th Amendment.” She added, “The U.S. Supreme Court should end this decades-old interpretation and rule that because illegal alien parents are subject to the jurisdiction of their home country, their child born here is likewise and is not a U.S. citizen.”

Jessice Vaughan, director of Policy Studies at the Center for Immigration Studies, told TWS, “The problem of birth tourism, which is much more common than most Americans realize, is a direct result of the birthright citizenship problem and the current interpretation of the Constitution providing for U.S. citizenship to almost anyone born on U.S. soil.” Noting the benefits that U.S. citizens and their families are eligible for, Vaughan continued, “It is no surprise that entrepreneurs have found a business opportunity to make the arrangements for people who want their child to be a U.S. citizen. The problem is that for far too long, the U.S. government pretended that there was nothing that could be done about this, no downside at all.”

Women coming to the U.S. specifically for the purpose of giving birth, she continued, commonly lied to visa officers and took advantage of American taxpayer-funded benefits, like “emergency” hospital care. “Not only is this laissez-faire attitude a burden on U.S. taxpayers, it is potentially a security risk, as organized crime and terror groups can exploit (and have exploited) the system by literally cultivating a group of U.S. passport holders who bear no allegiance to the United States,” Vaughan added, “and who may even be planning to harm Americans, but who are free to travel in and out without scrutiny.”

“The United States should not permit those who have no ties, no residency, and no allegiance or affection for our country to retain their citizenship just because they were born on U.S. soil. Once these citizens turn 21, not only can they live here, but they can sponsor many other extended family members,” Vaughan said, pointing out that Mexican cartel operatives and Islamist terrorists have managed to gain U.S. citizenship through their U.S.-born relatives. “It’s appropriate that the staff at State Department embassies abroad should be trying to root this out, and it’s much more effective for them to go after them before they have facilitated the entry of more mothers seeking free health care and passports for their babies” she continued. “It’s also noteworthy that the State Department has been able to gain the cooperation of these other nations to do these investigations.”

The present interpretation of “birthright citizenship” has led to a dramatic increase in the birth tourism industry in recent years. Government Accountability Institute President Peter Schweizer testified before Congress in March, reporting that he and his organization have tracked at least 1,000 birth tourism companies linked to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Over the past 12 to 13 years, Schweizer asserted, anywhere from 750,000 to 1.5 million children were likely born in the U.S. to Chinese national parents, often tied to the CCP. Those children, who have almost all been taken to mainland China to be raised under CCP rule, will soon be eligible to vote in U.S. elections, donate to or fund political parties and campaigns, and even run for the presidency.

Fox News reported earlier this year that it has identified at least 500 Chinese firms specializing in U.S. birth tourism, setting up housing, medical care, and birth plans for foreign nationals and even providing a legal team to manage U.S. citizenship paperwork for the children of foreign nationals. According to The Daily Wire, Chinese birth tourism businesses centered in Houston, Texas, have been responsible for more than 1,000 children born on U.S. soil to Chinese national parents.

Last month, Eileen Wang, the Democratic mayor of Arcadia, California, pleaded guilty to charges of acting in the U.S. illegally as a CCP agent. Arcadia has been linked to the CCP’s birth tourism industry, with multiple reports finding that CCP-friendly organizers in the California city would arrange for Chinese nationals to have children in the U.S., often via surrogacy.