State Department Revokes Nearly 900 Visas in Birth Tourism Crackdown

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State Department Revokes Nearly 900 Visas in Birth Tourism Crackdown

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WASHINGTON — The U.S. State Department has revoked nearly 900 visas as part of an intensified crackdown on "birth tourism" networks, according to agency officials, though records show the majority of these cancellations occurred before its dedicated task force was formally established.

State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott announced in an August 20, 2026, interview that visa revocations had reached "nearly 900" since the launch of the administration's enforcement initiative, as reported by the Santa Clarita Valley Signal.

However, a subsequent report by Fox News on August 24, 2026, cited a lower figure, stating the department's newly formed Birth Tourism Prevention Task Force had revoked "more than 750 visas." The State Department has not resolved this statistical discrepancy, nor has it released a public breakdown of the visa revocations by nationality, according to Hoodline.

Under the crackdown, consular officers are analyzing real-time travel patterns to identify birth tourism networks, according to Fox News. In one instance, officials flagged a tourist visa holder after her foreign-resident partner made continuous short-term visits to the U.S. to support her during the late stages of pregnancy, Fox News reported.

Pigott told Fox News that commercial networks facilitate this fraud by advertising "automatic guaranteed citizenship" under the guise of healthcare services. These networks then coach clients on how to evade medical bills at the expense of American taxpayers, according to Fox News.

The enforcement push is authorized by executive orders signed by President Donald Trump on August 6, 2026, targeting birthright citizenship and birth tourism, according to the National Immigration Forum. The orders followed a Supreme Court ruling in Trump v. Barbara that struck down a previous attempt to end birthright citizenship, according to Greenberg Traurig.

When Secretary of State Marco Rubio officially launched the Birth Tourism Prevention Task Force on August 12, 2026, he announced that the State Department had already revoked over 600 visas, according to the Financial Express. This timeline indicates that the bulk of the enforcement actions were executed under pre-existing consular mechanisms before the task force began its real-time tracking.

The administration's legal authority remains heavily contested. Civil rights and advocacy groups filed a federal lawsuit on August 11, 2026, to block the executive orders, according to the National Immigration Forum.

Critics of the policy emphasize that foreign nationals are not categorically barred from traveling to the United States while pregnant, according to Hoodline.

Federal courts are expected to hear arguments on the pending lawsuit in the coming weeks, which will determine whether the administration can continue its targeted visa revocations and real-time travel monitoring.