Gov. Greg Abbott on July 21 ordered Texas state agencies to start investigating and eliminating illegal birth tourism schemes and hold accountable any licensed healthcare providers that participate in them.
The governor signed an executive order targeting the schemes that entice illegal immigrants to cross the border into Texas to deliver babies who are then granted U.S. citizenship.
“Texas will not tolerate the exploitation of our immigration laws by individuals traveling to the United States illegally or under false pretenses to give birth and secure citizenship for their child,” Abbott said in a statement. “U.S. citizenship is not for sale, and Texas will put a stop to individuals seeking to profit from birth tourism.”
Texas has ramped up efforts to rid the state of the birthright citizenship industry following the Supreme Court’s decision last month striking down President Donald Trump’s executive order excluding children of illegal immigrants and legal temporary visitors from automatic birthright citizenship.
Trump said he would ask the justices to rehear the case. In the meantime, the president said signs and billboards were appearing “all over our southern border, and Mexico” selling deliveries starting at $4,000.
Abbott’s order directs the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, the Department of State Health Services, and other state agencies to investigate claims of birth tourism within the state’s healthcare industry.
Under the executive order, the agencies must take enforcement action against any licensed or regulated person or entity who advertises, solicits, engages in, assists with, provides, or participates in illegal birth tourism schemes.
Consequences for engaging in the schemes include medical and nursing board license suspensions or revocations; the loss of state contracts and administrative sanctions; and civil lawsuits against the operators for coaching foreign nationals to deceive federal immigration officials.
Within hours of the Supreme Court decision, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a memo directing all U.S. Attorneys and the criminal division to work with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to prioritize the investigation and prosecution of birth tourism schemes.
Deputy Attorney General Colin McDonald said in the memo that the American system of birth tourism is exploited each year by thousands of foreigners who travel to the United States under false pretenses to give birth.
Federal law prohibits birth tourism schemes, as many foreigners enter with a false visa application stating a dishonest reason for why they are entering the country, according to McDonald.
The Texas Attorney General’s Office has taken steps to combat illegal birth tourism in the state, including suing a Houston-area facility that claims to have helped 1,000 or more foreign nationals and coached customers on how to enter the United States illegally to give birth, according to Abbott.
The governor has already directed the Texas Health and Human Services Commission this month to launch an investigation into reports that Texas hospitals were advertising birth tourism packages abroad, he said.
In another case, two Texas medical centers allegedly posted billboard ads in a foreign country advertising “birth packages” in the southern region of the state for prices as low as $3,950.
Matthew Vadum contributed to this report.
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