On Tuesday, Just the News posted an article about the cost of Birthright Citizenship to Americans.
The article reports:
Birthright citizenship of immigrants’ children is costing federal, state and local taxpayers $150.7 billion annually, according to the Federation for American Immigration Reform.
Half that amount covers education, with the rest spent on healthcare and nutritional assistance, according to FAIR.
Policy analysts warn that broad constitutional interpretations of birthright citizenship under the 14th Amendment have enabled foreign nationals to exploit legal loopholes through organized “birth tourism” and commercial surrogacy operations in states such as California, New York and Florida. Surrogacy operations are also common in Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. territory about 1,000 miles south of Japan.
The article notes:
Questions over surrogates giving birth to immigrants’ children are being raised as the Trump administration continues its efforts to target birthright citizenship and birth tourism. In August 2026, just five weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Trump’s initial broad executive order restricting birthright citizenship in Trump v. Barbara, the president signed two new executive orders. One focuses on “ending birth tourism,” while the other aims at “continuing to protect the meaning and value of American citizenship.”
FAIR filed amicus briefs at two stages of the Trump v. Barbara case, arguing for the original 19th-century understanding of the 14th Amendment. FAIR expressed disappointment with the justices’ ruling that everyone born in the U.S. is an American citizen, regardless of their parents’ background.
However, Forero (Mateo Forero, director of investigations at FAIR) noted that the administration’s revised approach on birth tourism takes a creative angle aimed directly at the legal gaps left by the Supreme Court.
The article concludes:
Because cross-border surrogacy remains largely legal and operates in a regulatory gray area, federal authorities have limited tools to police alleged abuses or the public benefit eligibility tied to dependents born with U.S. citizenship, according to Forero.
“You have the unintended consequences of having broad citizenship rules,” Forero told The Center Square. “States and Congress need to take a long, hard look at what the rules around surrogacy and cross-border surrogacy specifically need to be and what reforms are necessary.”
In addition to research and investigative work on birth tourism, FAIR actively engages in strategic litigation surrounding state immigration policies, including representing 15 New York sheriffs currently challenging New York’s sanctuary laws.
Ultimately, Forero said, he views tightening these statutory and constitutional loopholes as vital for the country. “It would be a win for the American people, which is what we should all be focused on from a policy perspective.”
We can have either a generous safety net or a porous border. We can’t have both.