Acting AG Todd Blanche vows DOJ will be 'focused on stopping' birth tourism after SCOTUS ruling

WASHINGTON, DC: Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the Department of Justice (DOJ) will shift its focus toward cracking down on so-called "birth tourism" just one day after the Supreme Court upheld the constitutional guarantee of birthright citizenship.

The announcement marked the Trump administration's immediate response after the court rejected its effort to restrict birthright citizenship through executive action. Instead, officials are now emphasizing visa enforcement and fraud investigations tied to people they say travel to the US primarily to give birth.

Todd Blanche shifts DOJ's focus toward 'birth tourism' cases

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, July 1, the acting Attorney General said the administration would use existing immigration and law enforcement tools to curb the practice.

"There's other things that [the Department of Homeland Security] 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 the tourist visa, but just to have a baby that can then be a US citizen," Blanche said.

He added that the Justice Department's role would be to ensure enforcement agencies prioritize those cases.

"What we have to do as Department of Justice is make sure our agents, our [Homeland Security Investigations] agents that we work with, and the FBI are focused on stopping that," Blanche noted. 

The policy shift came shortly after the Supreme Court's latest ruling left birthright citizenship intact, prompting the administration to pursue other avenues targeting "birth tourism."

DOJ orders fraud prosecutions despite limited evidence

The DOJ also moved quickly on enforcement. Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald instructed staff in an office-wide memo to pursue fraud charges in alleged "birth tourism" cases.

"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 renewed focus comes even though the government's own lawyer acknowledged uncertainty over the scale of the issue. During oral arguments in Trump v Barbara in April, D John Sauer told the justices that "no one knows for sure" how significant "birth tourism" actually is.

The Center for Immigration Studies estimated there are between 20,000 and 26,000 births each year to women on tourist visas, accounting for less than 1% of babies born annually in the United States.

Trump allies defend push after Supreme Court ruling

Despite that uncertainty, "birth tourism" has remained central to the Trump administration's arguments against birthright citizenship. Republicans have continued to argue the practice is being abused.

"I do think that this has been grossly abused in recent years," House Speaker Mike Johnson said Tuesday. "You just come on to the soil and have your child, and then they're able to avail themselves of the welfare state and everything else."

The Supreme Court majority was unconvinced by the administration's constitutional argument, with Chief Justice John Roberts writing that it had provided "scant evidence for this dramatically revisionist view."

Vice President JD Vance also criticized the ruling, saying, "Do I think she made a mistake in the ruling? I do," before arguing he did not believe the framers of the 14th Amendment intended citizenship to extend to people who come to the US on vacation to give birth.