Only hours had passed since the administration of US President Donald Trump lost its battle before the Supreme Court over restricting the right to citizenship by birth in America, until it moved to a new front aimed at blocking the way for pregnant foreign women wishing to enter the United States.
American reports revealed that the administration has begun implementing an alternative plan based on tightening the legal prosecution of what is known as “birth tourism,” and studying procedures to limit the entry of pregnant women with visas if the authorities suspect that the purpose of their travel is to give birth to children who will obtain American citizenship by birth.
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But what are the details of the Supreme Court’s decision that thwarted Trump’s efforts? What are the legal foundations on which the administration relies in prosecuting “birth tourism”? Will foreign pregnant women become a new target for the Trump administration’s immigration policies?
Defeat in court
Last Tuesday, the Trump administration received one of the most significant judicial blows since the beginning of his second term, after the Supreme Court upheld birthright citizenship, according to Time magazine.
The court ruled to cancel Trump’s executive order, which aimed to limit the granting of US citizenship by birth to children born within the United States whose parents are a US citizen or legal permanent resident.
While immigrant rights organizations welcomed the issue and considered it a victory, the Washington Times quoted US Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullen as saying – to Fox News – that the decision “poses a real danger to national security.”
But the Ministry of Justice did not wait long after the ruling was issued, as on the same day it issued directives to its employees confirming that it would give priority to the investigation and prosecution of what is known as “birth tourism,” according to the magazine.
In a related context, Axios reported that Trump’s aides and his allies in the MAGA movement quickly moved to an alternative plan, which is to prevent pregnant foreign women from entering the United States.
This proposal – as the site explains – would open a new front in the immigration battle, centered around pregnancy, travel, and citizenship, and move the debate from challenging the right of children born within the United States to obtain citizenship to restricting those allowed to enter the country.
Birth tourism
In the first practical action after the Supreme Court’s decision, Assistant Attorney General for the Anti-Fraud Division, Colin MacDonald, issued a memorandum to the employees of the Ministry of Justice, in which he stressed the priority of investigating and prosecuting what is known as “birth tourism.”
MacDonald considered – according to Time – that these practices “exploit the American immigration system and violate the criminal law,” stressing that the Ministry of Justice “will investigate everyone who engages in these illegal practices and hold them accountable, in addition to prosecuting those who promote these criminal services or sell them to others.”
He added that American criminal laws already prohibit many practices associated with so-called “birth tourism,” noting that many of these practices begin with false visa applications that include misleading information about the true purpose of travel or length of stay in the United States, according to Axios.
The Assistant District Attorney noted that many of these cases could be prosecuted for visa fraud, but called on prosecutors to also consider filing other charges including wire fraud, health care fraud, money laundering, and aggravated identity theft charges.
In parallel, the Trump administration is considering tightening restrictions on the entry of pregnant women, as Homeland Security Minister Mullen said that the government has the authority to prevent women who attempt to travel to the United States in the late stages of pregnancy, considering that this is related to the health of the child as well as being an issue affecting national security, according to the Washington Times.
The newspaper also quoted Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche as saying – in a press conference – that “everyone should agree that a pregnant woman coming to the United States with the intention of giving birth to a child who will obtain American citizenship constitutes a violation of our laws.”
Pregnant women under a microscope
Although the Trump administration has escalated its campaign on birth tourism, the numbers indicate that the phenomenon remains relatively limited. According to Axios, the US government does not keep official statistics on the number of children born to foreign visitors, but independent estimates indicate that between 20,000 and 26,000 cases are recorded annually, compared to about 3.6 million births witnessed in the United States in 2025, which makes birth tourism a relatively rare phenomenon.
Although Trump did not explicitly support banning the entry of pregnant visitors, his first administration did take measures aimed at reducing birth tourism.
The Washington Times quoted Justice Department lawyers as saying before the Supreme Court that hundreds of companies provide specialized services in birth tourism, citing a case filed by the ministry against a “maternity home” in California, in which one of the companies was renting apartments to pregnant Chinese women who came to the United States to give birth and then returned to China after a month or two.
The Supreme Court’s ruling includes children born to foreign visitors who are in the United States legally, as well as children of “irregular” immigrants.
But the newspaper shed light on “irregular” immigrants, as it indicates – based on the latest Pew Research Center estimates – that about 245,000 children will be born in 2023 to “irregular” immigrant parents who lack permanent legal status.
While the administration continues – as the report explains – its broader campaign against irregular immigration, it is also focusing on tightening law enforcement measures at the border and implementing mass deportations of those inside the country.
In parallel, Trump did not abandon his efforts to restrict citizenship by birth, as he asked Congress to study ways to circumvent the Supreme Court ruling, according to the Washington Times.
One option is to pass legislation that redefines who is considered “subject to the jurisdiction of the United States,” excluding irregular immigrants and temporary visitors from the scope of this concept.
