ICE launches new effort to uncover US ‘birth tourism schemes’

President Donald Trump’s administration plans to crack down on networks it says help pregnant women lie on visa applications in order to secure U.S. citizenship for their U.S.-born babies, an issue that Trump has highlighted to justify his attempts to restrict birthright citizenship.



In an internal email sent Thursday and reviewed by Reuters, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement ordered investigative agents around the country to focus on a new “Birth Tourism Initiative.” The operation will seek to root out networks that help pregnant foreign nationals come to the U.S. to give birth so their children can receive citizenship, it said.



Trump, a Republican, has kicked off an aggressive push to reduce both legal and illegal immigration after taking office in January 2025. His administration has used the threat of birth tourism as a rationale for attempting to restrict the practice of granting automatic citizenship to children born on U.S. soil.