by Ben Whedon
The State Department on Wednesday announced the creation of a task force dedicated to cracking down on “birth tourism,” namely the practice of traveling to the United States to give birth to secure the benefits of citizenship for the child.
Traveling to the U.S. for the primary purpose of giving birth is illegal, though the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on birthright citizenship has left the government with little recourse should an alien succeed in giving birth on U.S. soil.
In its announcement, the State Department warned that birth tourism had become a profitable industry and indicated that the task force would work to review visa holders and revoke those issued to persons involved in the practice.
“Citizenship is not a commodity to be acquired through calculated exploitation and evasion of the immigration laws,” the agency warned. “Foreign nationals who abuse the visa system, and those who help them do so, may lose their visa, their access, and their future in the United States. This is only the beginning.”
In Texas, after the Supreme Court ruling upholding birthright citizenship, two South Texas hospitals advertised in Spanish their childbirth services near the southern border to pregnant mothers in Mexico.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott asked the Texas Health and Human Services Commission to investigate Texas hospitals advertising birth tourism packages and refer findings to the attorney general’s office.
Abbott also issued an executive order asking state agencies to investigate and remove illegal birth tourism schemes in the state.
“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,” he said.
Attorney General Ken Paxton launched an investigation into Mission Regional Medical Center and Knapp Medical Center.
“My office will investigate any suspected illegal birth tourism schemes in Texas, including the operations of two South Texas hospitals that appeared to advertise birth tourism on a billboard near the border,” said Paxton. “My office will continue to hold accountable any entity that knowingly facilitates fraud in our state.”
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Ben Whedon is a reporter for Just the News. Zachery Schmidt is the digital editor of The Star News Network and contributed to this story.
