US to Deny Visas to Foreign Visitors Engaging in Birth Tourism

The United States will deny visas to those who engage in or facilitate birth tourism, the practice of foreign mothers coming to the United States to give birth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Sept. 23.

Rubio said the new visa restriction policy fell under part of the Immigration and Nationality Act. The law allows the United States to bar noncitizens from entering or being in the country if the person’s entry or proposed activities in the United States would have potentially serious negative consequences.

The new policy applies to “individuals who knowingly engage in, have engaged in, or facilitate birth tourism to the United States, including owners, operators, and managers of commercial birth tourism facilitation networks, visa ‘fixers’ who coach applicants to commit fraud, foreign medical providers who knowingly abet and facilitate such travel and the fraudulent use of our Medicaid system, and other individuals who support, abet, and enable commercial birth tourism.”

In August, President Donald Trump signed an executive order targeting birth tourism after the Supreme Court, on June 30 in a 6–3 ruling in Trump v. Barbara, struck down a January 2025 executive order he signed ending birthright citizenship.

“The Trump Administration is using every tool at our disposal to defend the integrity of U.S. citizenship, protect American public benefits and U.S. taxpayers from exploitation, and safeguard our national security,” Rubio said.

“By restricting visa issuance of those who both engage in and profit from this fraud, we are sending a clear message: The United States will not allow foreigners to exploit our immigration system and violate the sanctity of U.S. citizenship.”

Homeland Security Advisor Stephen Miller said the August executive order would ban birth tourism.

“The idea that people come here, pretend to be a tourist, pretend to be a visitor, say they want to go to Disneyland … but the real reason they are here is to have a child, make that child an automatic citizen, leave our country, and then have a U.S. citizen child—it gives them access, under this broken system, to welfare benefits, ultimately the voting booth … that practice of birth tourism, is as of the signing of this order, hereby banned,” he said.

Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.) criticized Miller in a post on X.

“He’s the one pushing relentlessly to end birthright citizenship—which is illegal,” she said. “He needs to be investigated and prosecuted for the crimes he’s actively committing.”