Supreme Court birthright citizenship case focuses on birth tourism
D. John Sauer, then a special assistant to Louisiana’s attorney general, listens during a hearing with the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Weaponization of the Federal Government on Capitol Hill on July 20, 2023.
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During arguments at the Supreme Court on Wednesday, a Trump administration lawyer cracked down on the argument that so-called birth tourism is compelling evidence that the U.S. policy of automatically granting citizenship to babies born in the country should end.
Lawyer, Attorney General D. John SauerHe said that there are many companies that specifically appeal to China and Russian eliteHe offers to help his children enter the United States so they can be born there and obtain citizenship.
“Congress report “We talked about in our brief conversations about some of the hot spots, like Russian elites coming to Miami through these birth tourism companies,” Sauer told the Supreme Court justices as President Donald Trump watched from the gallery.
Trump signed in January 2025 An executive order that would effectively end birthright citizenshipWhich has been considered the law of the land for over 150 years due to the 14th Amendment to the Constitution.
Calling that figure “striking” without saying which media report he was referring to, Sauer said, “As early as 2015, the media reported, based on Chinese media reports, that there were 500 – 500 – birth tourism companies in the People’s Republic of China whose business is to bring people here to give birth and return to that country.” he said.
Citing a March 9 letter from members of Congress to the Department of Homeland Security, the attorney general said media reports indicate that as many as 1.5 million Chinese citizens with U.S. citizenship may have obtained that status through the “birth tourism” industry.
The United States does not officially track the number of children born to visitors on visitor visas.
Latest predictions Center for Migration ResearchThe organization, which advocates reducing immigration, estimates that the number of “birth tourists” in 2020 is around 20,000 to 26,000 babies per year.
The letter quotes conservative media outlet Breitbart News Network, which attributes the 1.5 million estimate to author Peter Schweizer; Author Peter Schweizer claims that these American citizens would then grow up in China and return to the United States after turning 18 to vote legally there. Schweizer also argues that these people will apply for US resident status on behalf of their parents when they turn 21.
A woman and her husband prisoner In 2025, he was charged with conspiracy and money laundering over his birth tourism operation USA Happy Baby.
And in 2015, federal officials accused 19 people linked to three “birth tourism” operations in Southern California. Federal authorities arrested three of these defendants in 2019.
