The U.S. Department of Justice has instructed federal prosecutors nationwide to prioritize prosecuting birth tourism fraud, according to an official directive. The move targets schemes where pregnant women travel to the U.S. to give birth, securing citizenship for their children through false statements or visa fraud.
The U.S. Department of Justice has ordered federal prosecutors across the country to prioritize the prosecution of birth tourism fraud, the DOJ said in a Wednesday directive. The policy targets foreign nationals who arrange or participate in schemes where pregnant women travel to the United States to give birth, aiming to secure automatic U.S. citizenship for their newborns through false statements or visa fraud. Attorney General Merrick Garland's memo cited the practice as a significant fraud that undermines U.S. immigration law. The directive instructs U.S. Attorney's Offices to designate a point person for such cases. Birth tourism has been the subject of earlier federal crackdowns, with indictments and convictions in California and other states, but this is the first nationwide directive to make it a Justice Department priority. The order does not name specific target countries, but law enforcement has in the past noted China and Russia as primary source nations for such schemes.
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