US: Texas governor orders crackdown on healthcare providers in 'birth tourism' probe

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has directed six health and licensing agencies to investigate an alleged "birth tourism" scheme, under which foreigners travel to the US primarily to give birth and secure American citizenship for their children.

The executive order, signed on Tuesday, mandates immediate investigations by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC), the Department of State Health Services, the HHSC Office of Inspector General, the Texas Medical Board, the Texas Board of Nursing, and the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation.

The agencies will probe state-regulated healthcare providers, medical professionals, and commercial entities accused of facilitating the practice.


Under the directive, state agencies are required to pursue administrative penalties -- including the suspension or revocation of medical licenses, debarment from state contracts, and denial of state benefits -- against any licensed provider found advertising, soliciting, or assisting foreign nationals travelling to the US to give birth and secure birthright citizenship.

"Texas will not tolerate the exploitation of our immigration laws by individuals travelling to the United States illegally or under false pretences to give birth and secure citizenship for their child," Abbott said in an official statement.

"US citizenship is not for sale, and Texas will put a stop to individuals seeking to profit from birth tourism," he said.

The governor's order expands a state crackdown initiated on July 7, when HHSC referred two South Texas facilities, including Mission Regional Medical Centre in Mission, to Attorney General Ken Paxton for alleged advertising of fixed-price "birth packages" in Mexico.

Mission Regional Medical Centre has denied any unlawful activity.

The directive also references recent legal enforcement in the Houston area, where Attorney General Paxton filed a lawsuit against a local operator accused of facilitating childbirth travel for more than 1,000 foreign nationals and coaching clients to misrepresent travel intent to federal border officials.

State agencies have been authorised to coordinate directly with federal prosecutors across Texas to share intelligence and refer potential federal fraud charges.

Responding to the executive order, Houston-based immigration attorney Gordon Quan expressed concern that the mandate could compel healthcare workers to scrutinise patients' legal status prior to treatment.

"You want to make sure that mothers have an opportunity for safe delivery, no matter what their status is," Quan said, warning that the policy could endanger maternal care.

Legal analysts and research groups, including the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute, note that while misrepresenting travel intent to immigration authorities is illegal under federal law, temporary travel to the US while pregnant does not inherently violate federal immigration statutes.