U.S. Department of Justice reiterates plan to crack down on "birth tourism" after Supreme Court ruling

The day after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled to uphold birthright citizenship, acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche said on the 1st that the Trump administration would step up its crackdown on so-called "birth tourism."

Agence France-Presse reported that the conservative-dominated Supreme Court on June 30 overturned an executive order issued by President Trump on the first day of his second term. The order stipulates that children born in the United States to parents who entered the United States illegally or on temporary visas will not automatically become U.S. citizens.

However, Branch told reporters that authorities will still target foreign women who attempt to give birth in the United States so that their children can obtain U.S. citizenship.

"From the Department of Justice's standpoint, our prosecutors and our law enforcement partners are clearly going to be focused on birth tourism," Branch said at a press conference. "This is a booming industry and it's going to continue to happen. And given the Supreme Court's ruling yesterday, that's going to continue to happen."

"There are other things the federal government can do in terms of visas and application processes to try to minimize or limit the opportunity for people to come here...just to have a baby that can become a U.S. citizen," he noted.

The Trump administration has highlighted so-called birth tourism, especially from China, as justification for its challenge to birthright citizenship.

However, experts point out that compared to the more than 250,000 babies born to undocumented immigrants or temporary residents in the United States each year, the rate of birth tourism is actually relatively low.