WASHINGTON — U.S. embassies in West Africa, Europe, and North Africa have broken up several organized “birth tourism” operations and canceled hundreds of visas after concluding that commercial facilitators were helping foreign nationals travel to the United States mainly to give birth and obtain American citizenship for their children.
The State Department described the cases in statements issued June 10, 2026. The Daily Wire first reported that the networks had been identified. Officials said consular officers, working with law enforcement and using data analysis, found coordinated schemes that included visa coaching, arranged housing in the United States, and, in some instances, fraudulent paperwork.
“Under President Trump, the State Department is defending the integrity of U.S. citizenship by ending illegal birth tourism schemes,” the department said. “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.”
Visitor visas are meant for temporary travel. Longstanding department policy holds that applicants whose main purpose is childbirth in order to confer citizenship on a newborn can be refused or later have their visas revoked. Officials said the newly identified operations were organized efforts to get around that rule.
Three regional investigations
In West Africa, a U.S. embassy reported uncovering what it called a sophisticated network involving more than 100 foreign nationals. Investigators said the group used fraudulent documents and visa “fixers” to obtain travel papers so participants could give birth in the United States and secure citizenship for their children. The department said it shut the operation down, revoked the visas, and is working with local authorities “to systematically identify and cut off any similar operations.”
A U.S. embassy in Europe identified more than 400 suspected birth tourism cases dating to 2024, officials said. Investigators linked the activity to at least six companies that allegedly coached visa applicants on interview answers, arranged accommodations in the United States, and coordinated childbirth plans. The department said it disrupted the operation, revoked the visas involved, and imposed permanent travel bans on several people accused of facilitating the scheme.
In North Africa, an embassy revoked more than 100 visas issued to people accused of traveling to the United States primarily to give birth so their children would automatically receive American citizenship. Consular officers said they partnered with law enforcement and used analytical tools to map networks exploiting the visa process.
“A U.S. visa is a privilege, not a right,” the department said. “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.”
Officials did not publicly name the host countries, the six European companies, or the individuals permanently barred. They said cooperation with local authorities would continue so similar rings can be identified before visas are issued.
What “birth tourism” means
Birth tourism refers to travel undertaken so that a child born on U.S. soil can claim citizenship under the 14th Amendment’s citizenship clause, as interpreted by longstanding practice. The United States is among a minority of countries that grant citizenship based largely on place of birth. Critics say commercial networks turn that rule into a product sold in packages that can include interview coaching, lodging, and hospital arrangements. Supporters of the current interpretation argue the Constitution’s text is clear and that changing it requires a constitutional amendment or a definitive Supreme Court ruling.
The June announcements came amid a broader Trump administration effort to tighten visa screening and curb what officials describe as abuse of legal immigration channels. The department framed the crackdown as enforcement of existing visitor-visa rules rather than a rewrite of citizenship law. The practical effect for applicants is stricter consular scrutiny of pregnancy, travel timing, financial sponsors, and patterns that suggest childbirth is the main reason for the trip.
Citizenship law remains contested
The visa actions did not themselves change who is a citizen. They targeted eligibility and alleged fraud: coaching applicants to conceal pregnancy or travel purpose, forging papers, and running commercial packages that bundle interviews, lodging, and hospital plans.
President Trump signed an executive order in January 2025 seeking to limit birthright citizenship for children of parents who are not U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents. Courts paused that order. The Supreme Court later heard arguments focused on the 14th Amendment’s language that persons “born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof,” are citizens. The administration has argued that unlawful presence or temporary visitor status can affect whether a newborn is “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States. Challengers say the clause has been applied for more than a century to nearly all children born on U.S. soil other than children of foreign diplomats.
Later reporting indicated the Court rejected the administration’s first effort to narrow birthright citizenship by executive order, after which the White House and Justice Department shifted more weight onto visa screening, fraud prosecutions, and restrictions on facilitators.
Domestic cases and later federal steps
The practice has also drawn state-level scrutiny. Texas previously sued a Houston postpartum facility, De’Ai Postpartum Care Center, alleging it facilitated births for Chinese nationals seeking birthright citizenship. The center has been accused of involvement in more than 1,000 such births. That litigation is separate from the overseas embassy investigations announced in June.
Later in 2026, the State Department said it had created a Birth Tourism Prevention Task Force to review visa-holder activity worldwide, share data with the Department of Homeland Security, revoke visas of people who engage in or facilitate the practice, and dismantle commercial networks. The department reported additional revocations as screening expanded; those later figures were separate from the June embassy cases in Africa and Europe. In August, officials said the task force had already revoked more than 600 visas. In September, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced a further visa-restriction policy aimed at owners, operators, “fixers,” and others who commercially facilitate birth tourism.
For travelers, the message from consular posts is narrower than the constitutional fight: a visitor visa is not supposed to be a vehicle for obtaining U.S. citizenship for a child. Embassies say they will keep looking for coaching, forged papers, and packaged childbirth itineraries — and cancel visas when they find them.
