DOJ Launches New Crackdown on Birth Tourism After Supreme Court Blocks Trump’s Birthright Citizenship Order

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announces on Wednesday DOJ will prioritize prosecutions of birth tourism schemes involving visa fraud as foreign nationals continue exploiting U.S. citizenship loopholes despite yesterday’s 5-4 Supreme Court ruling striking down President Trump’s executive order.

On Tuesday, the Trump Department of Justice directed federal prosecutors across the country to prioritize investigations and prosecutions of birth tourism schemes.

The move, announced just hours after the high court struck down President Trump’s executive order protecting the meaning and value of American citizenship, shows the administration is not backing down. Instead, it is weaponizing existing criminal law against the fraudsters who exploit the loophole.

Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald issued a department-wide memo Tuesday directing every U.S. Attorney’s office to work closely with DHS on these cases.

Potential charges include visa fraud, money laundering, identity theft, and wire fraud for foreign nationals who come to the United States under “false pretenses” to give birth and secure automatic citizenship for their child.

“The Department of Justice will zealously protect the sanctity of United States citizenship by investigating and prosecuting those who fraudulently exploit our immigration system,” McDonald wrote.

The memo notes that many of these schemes begin with lies on visa applications about the true purpose and length of stay — conduct that has always been illegal. Past prosecutions focused heavily on visa fraud, but the directive makes clear prosecutors should pursue the full range of criminal statutes when the evidence supports it.

This crackdown follows the DHS “Birth Tourism Initiative” launched in April and comes as the Trump administration continues its historic enforcement of immigration laws.

The Gateway Pundit has extensively covered the birth tourism and anchor baby crisis for years:

• Peter Schweizer exposed China’s sophisticated birth tourism industry that creates “anchor babies” potentially tied to CCP influence operations.
• We reported on China’s infiltration of the U.S. through both commercial surrogacy in California and traditional birth tourism packages costing tens of thousands of dollars.
• Multiple investigations detailed the maternity hotels and “birth tourism” operations in Southern California that coach pregnant women to lie at ports of entry and exploit American hospitals and citizenship laws.

Speaking on Thursday, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said the Department of Justice is making birth tourism enforcement a top priority in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision preserving birthright citizenship.

Blanche argued that birth tourism has become a “booming industry” and said the DOJ will work alongside federal law enforcement agencies to crack down on individuals who allegedly misuse tourist visas to give birth in the United States.

“From a Department of Justice standpoint, it’s obviously focusing our prosecutors and our law enforcement partners on birthing tourism, and it’s a booming industry, and it will continue. It will continue given the Supreme Court’s decision yesterday,” Blanche said.

He added that while the Supreme Court’s ruling limits the administration’s ability to change birthright citizenship through executive action, other federal agencies still have tools available to discourage the practice through the visa application process.

“There’s other things that DHS can do and the federal government can do in the visa process and the application process to try to minimize or limit the opportunity of folks coming here—not to visit and not to do what they’re saying they’re doing on their tourist visa—but just to have a baby that can then be a U.S. citizen,” Blanche said.

Blanche argued that individuals who allegedly enter the United States under false pretenses to obtain citizenship for their children are violating federal law and said prosecutors have been instructed to prioritize those cases.

“From our standpoint, it’s focusing on what is a problem. Everybody should agree that it’s a violation of our laws if your intent in coming here, if you’re pregnant, is to have a child become a United States citizen because of our current laws.”

He concluded by pledging that the DOJ will coordinate closely with federal law enforcement to pursue birth tourism investigations.

“What we have to do as the Department of Justice is make sure our agents, our HSI agents that we work with and the FBI, are focused on stopping that, and that’s what we’re going to do.”

WATCH:

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