Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signs executive order over "birth tourism", targets hospitals and providers
The governor of Texas is targeting hospitals and providers to put a stop to so-called "birth tourism" schemes.
This comes after Gov.Greg Abbott instructed the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) to investigate so-called "birth tourism" packages earlier this month.
Abbott issued an executive order on Tuesday directing state agencies to investigate and eliminate the unlawful "schemes" in Texas. The order will hold accountable any licensed healthcare provider involved.
"Texas will not tolerate the exploitation of our immigration laws by individuals traveling to the United States illegally or under false pretenses to give birth and secure citizenship for their child," Abbott said in a statement.
The executive order directs the Texas HHSC, the Department of State Health Services, the HHSC Office of Inspector General (OIG), the Texas Medical Board, the Texas Board of Nursing, and the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation to investigate claims of birth tourism schemes within Texas' healthcare industry.
When he initially launched the investigation, Abbott claimed that Mission Regional Medical Center in the Rio Grande Valley advertised the service, inviting foreign travelers to give birth in Texas in order to get U.S. citizenship for their children.
The medical center said in a statement that it was sharing information about the healthcare services it provides, "like hospitals across the country," and that the marketing materials mentioned are no longer in use.
According to the governor's order, enforcement actions include revoking or suspending licenses, prohibiting participation in state contracts, denying state benefits, or taking other enforcement action under state law.
Birthright citizenship in the U.S.
Despite President Trump's effort to restrict birthright citizenship on his first day back in office as part of a broader immigration crackdown, the U.S. Supreme Court last month rejected his executive order. The ruling reaffirmed the long-standing interpretation that nearly everyone born in the United States is automatically a U.S. citizen.
Following the decision, Trump called on Congress to pursue legislation limiting birthright citizenship. However, because the Supreme Court's majority concluded that the 14th Amendment guarantees citizenship to people born in the U.S., legal experts say changing that policy would likely require a constitutional amendment.
The Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment states that "all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States." Congress later incorporated that language into federal law through the Nationality Act of 1940 and the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952.
The nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute estimates that so-called "birth tourism" is relatively uncommon, accounting for roughly 5,000 to 26,000 births each year out of approximately 3.5 million births nationwide.
