Sponsor
John Rose
Representative · R-TN
Representative · R-TN
This bill strengthens tools to identify and deter commercial 'birth tourism' and preserves a medical-exemption path, but does so at the cost of heightened scrutiny, criminal penalties, legal uncertainty, potential harm to pregnant travelers and immigrant families, and a risk to principles of birthright citizenship.
Immigration and enforcement officials (consular officers, DHS, and courts) get clearer statutory authority and tools to identify, deny entry to, and remove people who arrange or use commercial 'birth tourism,' helping reduce misuse of visitor visas and speed enforcement actions.
The bill creates an explicit statutory definition of 'birth tourism' and targets commercial organizers, closing legal gaps exploited by facilitators and deterring illicit businesses that profit from coordinating births.
Health-care safeguards: HHS is authorized to grant medical exemptions so people with genuine medical need can still receive care and give birth in the U.S., protecting pregnant individuals who require medically necessary treatment.
Noncitizen parents and their U.S.-born children face a heightened risk that the bill will be used as a basis to restrict or erode birthright citizenship.
Pregnant travelers — including those with legitimate medical needs — will face increased visa denials, heightened scrutiny, and wrongful exclusions at ports of entry, which can deter necessary medical travel and endanger health.
The bill expands criminal and immigration penalties (including possible imprisonment, visa revocation, expedited removal) for pregnant noncitizens and people who assist them, increasing the risk of prosecutions and family separation.
Based on analysis of 5 sections of legislative text.
Defines "birth tourism," makes it an inadmissibility ground, and creates visa‑fraud and immigration penalties for participants, facilitators, and family who conceal intent.
Official title: To prohibit birth tourism, and for other purposes.
Introduced July 22, 2026 by John Rose · Last progress July 22, 2026
Creates a new federal definition of "birth tourism," makes people who travel to the United States primarily to give birth inadmissible, and criminalizes material misrepresentations or concealment related to birth-tourism admissions. The bill also makes family members who knowingly facilitate birth tourism inadmissible and authorizes criminal and immigration penalties for organizers, promoters, and participants. The law adds the definition to the Immigration and Nationality Act, inserts an inadmissibility ground into 8 U.S.C. §1182(a), and creates a visa-fraud offense and related authorities in 18 U.S.C. §1546 for purposeful concealment or misrepresentation to obtain admission for birth tourism. It excludes case-by-case medical-necessity visits as determined by HHS.