Commentary

Gill’s Plan to Kill Birth Tourism Is Exactly What Americans Want

Posted on by Bill McCarthy

And the Courts May Finally Allow It

Congressman Brandon Gill is done pretending birth tourism is some minor inconvenience. Foreign nationals—often from China and Russia—fly into the United States specifically to deliver a child who then claims automatic American citizenship. That child becomes an “anchor” for future family migration. Gill’s legislation, the Citizenship Act of 2026 (also framed as the Birthright Citizenship Clarification Act), takes direct aim at the practice. It would amend federal statute to deny automatic citizenship at birth to children whose parents are unlawfully present or here only temporarily for the purpose of giving birth. The question is not whether the policy is popular. It is whether the Supreme Court will let Congress do what the Constitution’s actual language and history support.

The Core of Gill’s Plan

The bill does not attempt to rewrite the 14th Amendment. It works within the existing statutory framework of the Immigration and Nationality Act. It clarifies that a person born in the United States is not “subject to the jurisdiction thereof”—and therefore not a citizen at birth—if, at the time of birth, the parents were unlawfully present or present only on a temporary basis for birth tourism. The legislation also targets the commercial side: businesses that openly market “have your baby in America” packages would face scrutiny and potential conspiracy charges for facilitating visa fraud and misrepresentation of intent.

Gill has already moved beyond legislation. As chairman of an oversight task force, he has subpoenaed and sent demand letters to companies that advertise these services. The message is clear: birth tourism is not a gray area. It is exploitation of American law and, in many cases, outright fraud on visa applications.

Why This Matters to Ordinary Americans

Most Americans understand citizenship as a reciprocal bond of loyalty and obligation, not a participation trophy for showing up on the right soil. Birth tourism turns that principle into a marketing product. Pregnant women arrive on tourist visas, give birth, obtain a U.S. passport for the child, and leave—often with plans to use the child’s citizenship later. The practice is concentrated among nationals of adversarial countries. It creates long-term immigration pressure and raises legitimate national-security concerns. Ending it restores the idea that American citizenship is something earned or conferred under clear rules, not purchased with a plane ticket and a hospital stay.

Will It Survive the Supreme Court?

The legal battlefield is defined by the 14th Amendment’s Citizenship Clause and the 1898 decision in Wong Kim Ark. That case held that a child born in the United States to lawful permanent residents was a citizen. It did not decide the status of children born to illegal entrants or temporary visitors who came solely to give birth. The recent Supreme Court ruling that struck down a presidential executive order on the same subject left an important opening: several justices indicated that Congress, not the executive, holds the primary authority to define the statutory contours of “subject to the jurisdiction.”

Gill’s bill is deliberately drafted as a statutory clarification rather than a constitutional amendment. It preserves the historical exceptions (children of foreign diplomats, invading armies) and extends the same logic to illegal entrants and birth tourists. Textualist and originalist justices who focus on the original public meaning of “jurisdiction” have a coherent path to uphold it. Those who treat Wong Kim Ark as an open-ended grant of citizenship to anyone born on U.S. soil will vote to strike it down.

The Court is no longer the rubber stamp for expansive readings of birthright citizenship that it once appeared to be. The June 2026 decision rejecting an executive order still left room for legislative action. A carefully written statute that tracks historical practice and focuses on illegal presence and temporary purpose stands a realistic chance of surviving a 5-4 or 6-3 decision. Failure would require a constitutional amendment—a far higher bar.

The Political Reality

The bill faces the usual obstacles in a divided Congress. Democrats will scream that it is racist and unconstitutional. Some establishment Republicans will worry about “optics.” But the underlying policy tracks public opinion: citizenship should not be a free gift to people who break the law to obtain it. Gill is forcing the issue into the open. Oversight of the commercial birth-tourism industry is already underway. The statutory fix is on the table. Whether it becomes law depends on Republican discipline and presidential support. Whether it survives the Court depends on whether the justices treat the 14th Amendment as a historical text or as a living blank check. The former reading favors Gill’s approach. The latter would require Americans to accept permanent birth tourism as a constitutional right. That is a fight worth having.

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