DOJ to probe 'birth tourism' schemes in wake of Supreme Court ruling
'Birth tourism' is the name for fraud allegations against foreign nationals who travel to the United States to give birth to US citizens.
The Justice Department directed prosecutors to investigate potential “birth tourism” schemes after the Supreme Court overturned President Donald Trump’s attempt to restrict the citizenship of children born to tourists.
Colin McDonald, the assistant attorney general for fraud enforcement, said in a memo that people coming to the country under "false pretenses" to give birth and secure citizenship for their child could be criminally charged under laws barring visa fraud, money laundering, identity theft and wire fraud.
“The criminal laws of the United States already prohibit conduct inherent to so many of these so-called ‘birth tourism’ schemes,” McDonald said. “For example, many such schemes start with a false visa application – with lies about the purpose or duration of one’s travel to the United States.”
The number of criminal cases of alleged birth tourism is relatively small, as is the number of children born to short-term visitors.
Article lists 3 cases cited by McDonald
The number of babies born to birth tourists in the U.S. is highly disputed because the government does not track the figures. Estimates from researchers have varied from as high as 39,000 annually to as low as 2,000.
But a group of 140 university professors told the Supreme Court in a written argument that birth tourism “accounts for an infinitesimal proportion of children" given the 3.6 million births in the U.S each year.
Home
Chat
Login
Register