On Tuesday, the Justice Department announced plans to tackle “birth tourism” following the Supreme Court’s decision that invalidated President Trump’s executive order aimed at prohibiting birthright citizenship for children born to illegal immigrants and visitors in the U.S.
Colin McDonald, the assistant attorney general for fraud enforcement, instructed federal prosecutors to vigorously uphold the integrity of American citizenship by investigating and taking action against those who misuse the immigration system, specifically by entering the country under false pretenses to give birth.
“U.S. criminal law already addresses many practices tied to these so-called ‘birth tourism’ schemes,” McDonald said. He noted that such operations often start with fraudulent visa applications that misrepresent the reason or duration of trips to the United States.
He also highlighted three notable cases during the Justice Department’s recent efforts against maternity travel scams.
In 2024, a couple, Michael Wei Yue Liu and Jin Dong, received 41-month prison sentences for operating a maternity tourism business targeting Chinese clients. Their company, USA Happy Baby, was accused of charging significant sums and facilitating the acquisition of fake U.S. visas.
McDonald referred to a 2022 case involving Ibrahim Aksakar, who was convicted of conspiracy related to healthcare and wire fraud. Aksakar, based in New York, allegedly promoted maternity tourism on Turkish-language social media and instructed women on concealing their pregnancies.
There was also the case of Chao “Edwin” Chen from 2020, who claimed his business, “You Win USA,” helped over 500 customers navigate their travel to the country. He was sentenced to 37 months in prison for running a substantial birth tourism operation, having charged up to $80,000 from clients.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche labeled maternity tourism a “burgeoning industry,” emphasizing the government isn’t tracking the number of infants born to tourists.
According to estimates from the Immigration Policy Institute, around 26,000 babies born annually in the U.S. might be linked to birth tourism. Meanwhile, the conservative Immigration Research Center suggests that the number could extend to 33,000 births a year among women holding tourist visas, adding that many more infants are born to mothers without legal status or on temporary visas.
Blanche remarked, “I think everyone would agree that if you’re pregnant and your purpose in coming here is to have a child who’s a U.S. citizen, that’s against the law.” He reiterated that stopping this practice is a priority for the department.
