EU Targets Birth Tourism as Trump Creates Task Force to Find Pregnant Travelers and Cancel Visas

The Trump administration is escalating its campaign against so-called birth tourism by creating a task force to track foreign travelers who came to the United States to give birth, identify the people who arranged their trips and cancel visas connected to the practice. The State Department said it has already revoked more than 600 visas and warned that parents, intermediaries and companies could face action. “This is only the beginning,” the government said.

The State Department will work with the Department of Homeland Security and other federal agencies. Investigators will compare consular applications, travel histories, immigration records, financial information and data from previous operations. They will look for links between advanced pregnancies, statements made during visa applications, accommodation bookings, selected hospitals and payments to intermediaries. Travel undertaken years earlier can also be reviewed.

Under the new approach, people who kept their visas after giving birth could lose them if officials conclude that they concealed the purpose of their trip, according to a spokesperson for the American Civil Liberties Union quoted by EL UNIVERSAL. The presidential order permits authorities to examine past conduct and act against people who participated, tried to participate or helped others enter the country.

“

This is only the beginning.

Trump signed the order, titled “Termination of Birth Tourism,” six days before the task force was announced. It defines the practice as entering the United States on a nonimmigrant visa with the purpose of giving birth there. The order empowers the secretaries of state and homeland security to deny authorization, revoke visas, bar future entry, begin removal proceedings and share records across agencies. It also applies to companies based inside or outside the United States. “Citizenship is not a commodity that can be acquired through calculated exploitation and evasion of immigration laws,” Trump said.

U.S. Census Bureau data showed about 3.7 million births in 2024, while nearly 9,600 mothers listed a usual address outside the United States, according to figures confirmed by the Migration Policy Institute. The Center for Immigration Studies, which favors reducing immigration, has estimated that between 22,000 and 26,000 birth-tourism cases occur annually, although the supplied text ends before completing that figure’s context.

“

Citizenship is not a commodity that can be acquired through calculated exploitation and evasion of immigration laws.