WASHINGTON — The U.S. State Department says it has identified and disrupted multiple overseas networks allegedly involved in “birth tourism,” including operations in West Africa, Europe and North Africa that officials say helped foreign nationals obtain visitor visas primarily to give birth in the United States.
The findings were first reported by The Daily Wire, which said U.S. embassies uncovered coordinated schemes involving fraudulent documents, visa facilitators and companies that arranged travel and childbirth plans. According to the report, State Department officials worked with law-enforcement authorities to investigate the networks, revoke visas and prevent individuals tied to the alleged schemes from returning to the United States.
In West Africa, a U.S. embassy reportedly uncovered a network involving more than 100 foreign nationals who allegedly used fraudulent documents and visa “fixers” to obtain entry. The State Department said the network was shut down and the visas connected to the operation were revoked. Officials added that they were working with local authorities to identify similar operations.
A separate investigation in Europe found more than 400 suspected birth-tourism cases dating to 2024, according to The Daily Wire. Investigators reportedly traced the cases to at least six companies accused of coaching visa applicants on how to respond during consular interviews, arranging accommodations in the United States and coordinating childbirth plans. Visas associated with the operation were revoked, and several individuals were permanently barred from traveling to the United States.
In North Africa, a U.S. embassy reportedly revoked more than 100 visas issued to people accused of traveling mainly to give birth so their children could obtain U.S. citizenship. Consular officers used investigative techniques, data analysis and cooperation with law enforcement to identify networks allegedly abusing the visa system.
Current State Department visa guidance states that birth tourism is not a permissible purpose for a visitor visa when the primary purpose of the trip is giving birth in the United States to obtain citizenship for the child.
The issue has also appeared in domestic litigation. In April 2026, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued De’Ai Postpartum Care Center in the Houston area, alleging that the business facilitated birth-tourism arrangements for Chinese nationals. The lawsuit said the center claimed responsibility for more than 1,000 American-born babies and coached clients on immigration procedures. Those allegations remain claims in the state’s lawsuit and are subject to the legal process. Paxton’s office later announced that the center would cease operations.
The enforcement campaign intersects with the broader debate over birthright citizenship. President Donald Trump issued Executive Order 14160 on January 20, 2025, seeking to deny U.S. citizenship to certain children born in the country based on their parents’ immigration status.
The legal landscape later shifted. On June 30, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in *Trump v. Barbara* that children born in the United States to parents who are unlawfully or temporarily present are “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States and are citizens at birth under the Fourteenth Amendment’s Citizenship Clause.
That ruling does not change the State Department’s separate rule on visitor visas: traveling to the United States primarily to give birth in order to obtain citizenship remains an impermissible basis for a visitor visa.
The latest actions therefore focus on alleged visa fraud and misuse of the visitor-visa system, even as the constitutional question of birthright citizenship has been addressed by the Supreme Court.
