The administration of Donald Trump is considering new restrictions that could limit or ban some pregnant foreign nationals from entering the United States following the recent legal setback to its efforts to end birthright citizenship.
The proposal is part of a renewed push by the White House to address what it describes as “birth tourism”—the practice of foreign nationals travelling to the United States late in pregnancy so their children can acquire U.S. citizenship by birth.
Although the U.S. government does not officially track births to foreign visitors, estimates suggest that between 20,000 and 26,000 children are born annually to women who entered the country on temporary visas while pregnant.
The Trump administration has argued that birthright citizenship encourages illegal immigration and provides incentives for people to circumvent U.S. immigration laws.
Senior presidential adviser Stephen Miller said the administration would “take a hard look” at restricting entry for pregnant foreign nationals.
According to Miller, “You have to now think very carefully about who you let into your country, even on a temporary basis because of the possibility for birth tourism.”
He added, “That people come here just to have babies on American soil, and that baby gets to be a citizen for life.”
Miller further argued, “If a person comes here nine months pregnant to go and look around at some things, in a couple of weeks that is the mother of a lifetime American citizen and a direct line into American cash and welfare for the rest of that child’s life. There are a lot of things we need to have a hard look at.”
Following the court’s decision, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said President Trump remains committed to protecting what she described as the value of natural-born American citizenship.
According to Jackson, “The president directed Congress to take immediate action to address the issue. The Department of Justice will also prioritise investigations of birth tourism schemes. The Trump administration has many tools to safeguard American citizenship.”
Meanwhile, Markwayne Mullin also suggested that tighter restrictions on pregnant visitors are under consideration.
Speaking on Fox & Friends, Mullin said, “There are tourist visas that they get to come into the US or into our territories just simply to give birth. They’ll come in the eighth month, maybe one, two, three weeks left, give birth here.”
He argued that some children born under such circumstances are raised abroad before later returning to the United States, adding, “It’s absolutely been a national security issue.”
The renewed discussion follows a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that blocked President Trump’s executive order seeking to deny automatic citizenship to children born in the United States to parents who are either in the country illegally or temporarily.
The Court held that the order conflicted with the Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which guarantees citizenship to individuals born on U.S. soil.
The decision marked one of the most significant judicial examinations of the Fourteenth Amendment in more than a century and represented a major legal setback for the administration’s immigration agenda.
