After the Supreme Court ruled against an effort to narrow birthright citizenship, the Trump administration turned to visa rules, border programs and commercial networks in its campaign against birth tourism. The practice involves traveling to another country primarily to give birth so the child gains citizenship.

The administration most recently suspended a federal program allowing Chinese citizens to travel without a visa to the Northern Mariana Islands for up to 14 days. The islands are a United States territory, meaning children born there receive American citizenship.

The islands had become a center for Chinese birth tourism. Recent estimates previously reported by Just the News indicated that potentially more than 1 million Chinese babies born there could secure American citizenship.

The Trump administration just SHUT DOWN the Biden visa-free travel program for Chinese nationals to close an illegal birth tourism loophole

The program allowed Chinese nationals to enter the Northern Mariana Islands for up to 14 days without a visa. More than 3,000 Chinese nationals used the program in 2025 alone. DHS warned the loophole could facilitate birth tourism to secure U.S. citizenship for newborns, Chinese espionage near sensitive American military installations, and illegal travel to Guam. More of this. — Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) October 27, 2026

The Department of Homeland Security announced the suspension Monday in the Federal Register. The department said the program could facilitate birth tourism, espionage and illegal onward travel to nearby Guam.

Gun Laws Have Changed! Protect yourself by knowing where you can and cannot carry your firearm, so you can travel with confidence.

The arrangement began in 2009 under the Obama administration and allowed Chinese and Russian visitors to enter the islands through the department's parole authority. That discretionary power permits the government to admit a foreign national without a visa.

Because the islands are a United States territory, a child born there to someone admitted under parole receives citizenship at birth. That is the same citizenship treatment the child would receive if born in one of the states.

Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee, who pressed the Department of Homeland Security to terminate the program, celebrated its suspension. “America is not a nursery for the [Chinese Communist Party] to steal citizenship,” Lee wrote on X.

Lee joined Republican Sens. Rick Scott of Florida, John Cornyn of Texas and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana in warning the administration about the program. The senators said it created national security risks and urged officials to close it.

In a January letter to then Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, the senators called the program a “lingering policy.” They said it “has opened the United States to significant security threats by creating a veritable cottage industry of Chinese nationals giving birth in the CNMI and gaining access to U.S. citizenship.”

The senators wrote that births to visiting Chinese mothers on the islands increased from fewer than 10 annually in 2009 to nearly 600 in 2018. Research by investigative journalist Peter Schweizer found that more than 70% of newborns there are born to Chinese birth tourists using the visa free policy.

In his book The Invisible Coup, Schweizer and his research team cited Chinese government data and independent assessments to estimate the broader scale. They concluded that between 750,000 and 1.5 million Chinese nationals obtained American citizenship through birth tourism during the previous 13 years.

Schweizer previously said the federal government does not track birthright citizenship figures. He cited estimates indicating that roughly 100,000 Chinese nationals used the practice each year over 13 years, bringing the total above 1 million.

Schweizer said those children are born in the United States, primarily to Chinese elites, and then return to China, where they are raised and attend Chinese schools. He added that when they turn 18, they can vote in the United States and obtain government jobs.

The administration based its legal argument on language in the 14th Amendment granting citizenship to people born or naturalized in the United States and subject to its jurisdiction. Opponents relied on the Supreme Court's 1898 decision in United States v. Wong Kim Ark.

The Supreme Court struck down Trump's Jan. 20, 2025, executive order in June. The administration then shifted its focus toward determining who may enter the country and under what terms.

On Aug. 6, Trump signed two executive orders aimed at narrowing birthright citizenship and ending birth tourism without directly contradicting the court. “We had a very unfortunate decision in the Supreme Court concerning birthright,” Trump said in the Oval Office. “It was close, but a very, very unfortunate decision. So we're making adjustments because it's very unfair.”

One order expanded categories of children born in the United States who would not receive automatic citizenship. The second instructed the State Department to issue rules and guidance aimed at stopping birth tourism.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced a new visa restriction policy in September targeting people who knowingly participate in or facilitate birth tourism. The policy also targets commercial network owners, operators, managers, visa fixers and foreign medical providers supporting the practice.

“The Trump administration is using every tool at our disposal to defend the integrity of U.S. citizenship, protect American public benefits and U.S. taxpayers from exploitation, and safeguard our national security,” Rubio said in a statement.