Ever hear of “birth tourism”? Get comfortable. You're about to hear a lot more.
On June 30, the Supreme Court struck down President Trump's executive order limiting birthright citizenship. Six justices voted against him. Three, including Clarence Thomas, sided with him.
Case closed. The administration lost.
Except it wasn't closed.
Hours after that ruling dropped, the Department of Justice fired off a memo to every U.S. Attorney in the country. The message was, basically, okay – we can't touch birthright citizenship today.
But we can absolutely bury the people profiting off it in federal charges.
NEW: In department wide memo, DOJ leadership directs all of its U.S. Attorneys across the country to prioritize investigations and prosecutions of birth tourism schemes. https://t.co/4Jgpcor8AG
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) June 30, 2026
So What Is Birth Tourism?
A pregnant woman flies into the U.S. on a tourist visa. She doesn't mention the pregnancy. She says she's here for vacation, maybe to see family.
Then she has her baby on American soil. That baby is a U.S. citizen. For life.
Mom flies home a few weeks later, mission accomplished.
That's the loophole. And it's being exploited.
This isn't always some quiet personal choice made under pressure. Sometimes it's a full-blown business.
With employees. With marketing. With a price list, like you're picking a cell phone plan instead of a country.
The Receipts
Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald wrote the memo, and he didn't just talk tough. He brought a folder.
Take the husband and wife team behind “USA Happy Baby Inc.” Subtle, right?
They charged Chinese clients tens of thousands of dollars apiece. Fake visa paperwork, hidden pregnancies, housing once mom landed, the whole concierge experience. Both got sentenced to 41 months in prison.
Then there's Chao “Edwin” Chen. His company, “You Win USA,” served more than 500 customers.
He charged up to $80,000 a head and pulled in $3 million in wire transfers from China over two years. Three million dollars. From babies. Chen got 37 months, which is a steep discount considering the revenue.
One more for the road. Ibrahim Aksakal ran a similar scheme out of New York, advertised on Turkish social media like it was a used car lot. He got 27 months and had to pay back over a million dollars.
These aren't hypothetical crimes. These are real cases; people who already went to prison for exactly this.
Why the DOJ Doesn't Need a New Law
The DOJ isn't asking Congress for a single new law.
Lying on a visa application is already illegal. So is wire fraud. So is money laundering. So is stealing someone's identity to pull this whole scam together.
“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 said.
Translation: no new statute needed. Just prosecutors who finally feel like using the ones already in place.
Not Everyone's Cheering, Obviously
Some immigration advocates worry this crackdown could sweep up ordinary travelers along with the con artists, adding more fear to an already tense border situation.
Nobody wants innocent tourists treated like criminals because a prosecutor got trigger happy.
But let's not pretend the guy running a $3 million baby business off wire transfers from China is the innocent tourist in this story.
What This Means for Nevada
Nevada's on major flight paths, and our own immigration fights have been heating up from Clark County courts to Carson City.
When DHS and federal prosecutors take this thing nationwide, don't be shocked if Nevada's U.S. Attorney's office gets a case or two.
Birth tourism used to be a California and New York headline. It's not staying there.
So What Happens Next?
The Supreme Court told the White House it can't rewrite the 14th Amendment with a pen and a press release.
That's how the system is built to work, even when it's frustrating.
But nobody, not the Court, not the Constitution, not even the most generous reading of the law, said fraud gets a free pass.
The Court protected the citizenship. The DOJ is coming for the con artists selling it.
The opinions expressed by contributors are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Nevada News & Views. Digital technology was used in the research, writing, and production of this article. Please verify information and consult additional sources as needed.
