Study claims up to 300,000 U.S.-born children of foreign tourists in ten years
The Center for Immigration Studies estimates that between 200,000 and 300,000 children were born in the United States to foreign tourists over the past decade.
At a task-force session of the House Oversight Committee led by Rep. Brandon Gill, Steven Camarota, director of research at the Center for Immigration Studies, testified that birth tourism may have produced between 200,000 and 300,000 U.S.-born children in the last ten years. He based the annual estimate of 20,000-26,000 births on data from 2016 and 2017, emphasizing the cumulative scale despite the modest yearly numbers.
Camarota highlighted recent polling showing only 25 percent of the public favor automatically extending citizenship to children of foreign visitors, arguing the practice devalues the nation's most prized asset. He contrasted these children with those of illegal immigrants, who typically grow up in the country, noting that birth-tourist children can enter the U.S. without screening and immediately access education, employment, and public benefits. The testimony w.
Why it matters
The claim raises concerns about immigration policy and the criteria for automatic citizenship in the United States.
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