The US has launched a significant crackdown on birth tourism, with President Donald Trump signing an Executive Order instructing federal agencies to reject visas, revoke travel authorisations and deport foreign people who come to the country to give birth.
The directive, dated Aug. 6, 2026, said U.S. citizenship was “among the greatest inheritances the nation can bestow” and cautioned that it was being “treated as a commodity to be acquired thru calculated exploitation and evasion of the immigration laws.”
The White House said the bill was targeted at eliminating loopholes that have allowed foreign nationals to take advantage of non-immigrant visas to acquire citizenship for children born on American soil.
Under the instruction, the Secretaries of State and Homeland Security were to implement the new policy, and all other executive departments and agencies were to submit documents and information necessary to implement the new policy.
In particular, the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security were directed to deny entry to any foreign individual attempting to enter the United States for birth tourism purposes. The agencies were also to cancel visas and travel authorisations and to permanently refuse admission to anyone discovered to be participating in the practice.
The directive also allows the two ministries to deny admission or to deport any “alien” who has previously engaged or wants to engage in birth tourism.
The Secretaries were advised to act against businesses and persons inside and outside the United States responsible for facilitating or enabling birth tourism.
The directive targets operators, groups and middlemen accused of teaching clients to misrepresent their travel intention to consular and border officials.
The Secretaries have to alter rules, policies and operational guidelines to put the policy into action.
The White House said the policy will protect the integrity of the immigration system and guarantee nonimmigrant visa classifications are not being abused to secure permanent immigration advantages.
President Trump condemned birth tourism businesses for fraudulent advertising and inducements and for advising clients to lie to consular and border officers about the purpose of their vacation.
Birth tourism harms the integrity of the U.S. immigration system, diverts consular resources from legitimate applicants, diminishes public trust and threatens national security, says the White House.
“The United States has a compelling interest in ensuring that each visa category is used only for the purpose for which it was established,” the order said.
But the directive permits the Secretary of State or Homeland Security to issue exclusions “on humanitarian grounds or when it is in the national interest for the foreign national to be admitted.”
President Trump’s endeavour to eliminate birth tourism is not the first effort by his administration to restrict birthright citizenship and immigration privileges.
Since returning to the White House in January 2025, Trump has made immigration enforcement a top priority of his second administration.
The Supreme Court’s June 2026 decision to overturn the executive order to eliminate birthright citizenship put to rest the effort to eliminate automatic citizenship for infants born on US soil. Judiciary & Courts
Yet the administration’s enforcement has continued in those areas linked to the Supreme Court order.
The administration has included birth tourism as a particular reason for visa denials in the Foreign Affairs Manual and has urged Customs and Border Protection, CBP, personnel at airports to interview pregnant travellers on tourist visas in an effort to deny them visas.
The August 6, 2026 directive is the administration’s latest attempt to implement the policy by targeting not birthright citizenship itself, but the manner of arrival utilising current visa and immigration authorities to deny entry and expel anyone it believes are participating in birth tourism.
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