The Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced this Wednesday that the Department of State has created a specialized task force to combat birth tourism and that, in just one month of operations, this unit has already revoked more than 600 visas for foreigners from around the world linked to these networks.
"U.S. citizenship is not for sale," Rubio wrote on X, where he described the phenomenon as organized networks that advise foreigners on how to defraud the visa system, coordinate travel and accommodation, and forge documents with the sole purpose of having foreign nationals give birth on U.S. soil so that their children automatically obtain citizenship.
"The State Department will use all available tools to dismantle networks involved in birth tourism and to defend the integrity of U.S. citizenship," he emphasized.
The announcement formally institutionalizes an offensive that the Trump administration began weeks ago.
On August 6, the president signed the executive order “Ending Birth Tourism”, which authorizes the Department of State and the Department of Homeland Security to deny visas, revoke travel authorizations, permanently prohibit entry, and expel individuals who enter the country for this purpose, including operators and facilitators of the schemes.
The new strategy represents a tactical shift following the judicial defeat on June 30, when the Supreme Court rejected by a vote of six to three the executive order from January 2025 that aimed to reinterpret the 14th Amendment to deny automatic citizenship to children of non-citizens.
By acting on non-immigrant visas rather than on citizenship itself, the Executive exercises broader legal discretion that is more difficult to challenge in court, as no foreign national has a guaranteed right to obtain a U.S. visa.
Rubio specified that the task force has the authority to review the activities of visa holders and dismantle illegal networks on a global scale.
"The State Department will utilize all available tools to dismantle networks involved in birth tourism and to uphold the integrity of U.S. citizenship," he stated.
Maternity tourism primarily operates with clients from China, Russia, Nigeria, and countries in Latin America, including Cuba.
Estimates presented to the Senate place the number of annual cases among Chinese nationals between 50,000 and 150,000; the Center for Immigration Studies estimates around 36,000 global cases per year.
The announcement comes within the context of a broader offensive against visas: the State Department has revoked more than 175,000 visas since the beginning of Trump's second term due to crimes, fraud, and national security threats, of which at least 100 were directly related to birth tourism.
The human impact of the revocations is already visible. According to testimonies collected by Univisión, foreign citizens have seen their visas canceled due to births that occurred more than twenty years ago. A Mexican mother recounted that upon crossing the border, her children were detained with others, her husband was held in a separate room, and his visa was taken away.
Rubio's announcement also generated a contradiction publicly pointed out on social media: while the secretary declares that "citizenship is not for sale," the Trump administration operates the Trump Gold Card program, which allows wealthy foreigners to obtain permanent residency and a pathway to citizenship through contributions ranging from one million to five million dollars.
"Isn't it five million dollars, sir?" replied a user, accompanying his message with an image of the golden card.
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