• Author estimates 750,000 to 1.5 million Chinese nationals hold U.S. citizenship through birthplace
• Federal government does not directly track birth tourism practice
• Supreme Court scheduled to review birthright citizenship challenges in spring 2026

WASHINGTON, D.C. (TDR) — Between 750,000 and 1.5 million Chinese nationals who acquired U.S. citizenship through birth on American soil could become eligible to vote starting in 2030, according to estimates presented in investigative journalist Peter Schweizer’s new book examining what he characterizes as exploitation of birthright citizenship policies.

Birthright Citizenship Practice Under Scrutiny

The estimates detailed in “The Invisible Coup: How American Elites and Foreign Powers Use Immigration as a Weapon” focus on a practice known as birth tourism, where pregnant women travel to the United States specifically to give birth, automatically conferring American citizenship on their newborns under current interpretation of the 14th Amendment.

“Perhaps more than a million Chinese nationals have become US citizens by virtue of being born here, but have no memories or allegiance to our country,” Schweizer writes, noting these children “have been suitably indoctrinated in CCP-controlled schools and taught about US values, culture, or history, from a distorted CCP perspective.”

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The author emphasizes that as American citizens, these individuals retain full voting rights upon reaching age 18 and can sponsor parents for permanent residency at age 21, potentially triggering chain migration patterns.

Data Limitations Complicate Assessment

Because the U.S. federal government does not directly track birth tourism, precise figures remain elusive. Schweizer cites varying estimates from multiple sources to establish a range.

Chinese officials have estimated approximately 50,000 of their citizens engage in birth tourism annually, according to the book. Professor Salvator Babones, an Australian-based researcher who has studied the phenomenon, suggests the figure could reach 100,000 per year.

“With up to 100,000 Chinese babies being born US citizens every year, birth tourism may result in millions of new elite Chinese-Americans,” Babones stated in research cited by Schweizer.

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Media Research, a Chinese data analysis company, reported that 150,000 people traveled from China to the United States for birth tourism purposes in 2018 alone, representing the highest estimate among sources referenced.

Schweizer calculates that practice flourishing over 15 years would produce the 750,000 to 1.5 million citizenship range, with the first significant wave reaching voting age beginning in 2030 when children born around 2012 turn 18.

Federal Prosecutions Target Organized Operations

The Department of Homeland Security has prosecuted numerous birth tourism operations, particularly concentrated in Southern California where the practice became industrialized.

In 2019, federal prosecutors unsealed indictments against 19 individuals linked to Chinese birth tourism schemes operating maternity hotels in Orange, Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties. The operations charged wealthy Chinese clients tens of thousands of dollars for housing, transportation and assistance during their stays.

“These cases allege a wide array of criminal schemes that sought to defeat our immigration laws – laws that welcome foreign visitors so long as they are truthful about their intentions when entering the country,” Nick Hanna, then-U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, stated at the time.

Federal authorities emphasized that the women involved typically lied on visa applications about trip purposes and lengths of stay, constituting visa fraud. Investigations revealed some operations charged up to $60,000 for comprehensive services including pre-natal care, delivery and post-birth documentation.

Constitutional Framework Shapes Debate

The 14th Amendment’s Citizenship Clause, ratified in 1868 following the Civil War, states: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”

The provision was designed to overturn the Supreme Court’s infamous Dred Scott decision and establish citizenship for formerly enslaved people and their descendants.

The Supreme Court addressed birthright citizenship’s scope in its 1898 United States v. Wong Kim Ark decision, ruling 6-2 that a child born in California to Chinese immigrant parents was a U.S. citizen despite his parents’ ineligibility for naturalization under Chinese Exclusion Acts.

“The 14th Amendment affirms the ancient and fundamental rule of citizenship by birth within the territory, in the allegiance and under the protection of the country, including all children here born of resident aliens,” Justice Horace Gray wrote in the majority opinion.

However, Chief Justice Melville Fuller’s dissent argued Wong Kim Ark was not “completely subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States because his parents maintained duties to the emperor of China.

Contemporary Legal Challenges

President Donald Trump issued an executive order on his first day in office attempting to end birthright citizenship for children born to parents in the country illegally or on temporary visas.

Multiple federal courts blocked the order, with judges calling it “blatantly unconstitutional.” The Supreme Court agreed in December 2025 to hear challenges to the order, with oral arguments expected in spring 2026 and a ruling anticipated by summer 2026.

“No president can change the 14th Amendment’s fundamental promise of citizenship,” Cecillia Wang, ACLU national legal director, stated. “For over 150 years, it has been the law and our national tradition that everyone born on U.S. soil is a citizen from birth.”

The Trump administration argues the 14th Amendment’s Citizenship Clause “was adopted to confer citizenship on the newly freed slaves and their children, not on the children of aliens temporarily visiting the United States or of illegal aliens.”

Heritage Foundation legal scholars Amy Swearer and Hans von Spakovsky contend that based on legislative history, the amendment’s birthright citizenship provision excludes those only temporarily present in the country.

“Neither the Supreme Court nor Congress has clarified that the U.S.-born children of illegal or non-permanent resident aliens are U.S. citizens,” they argue, suggesting the president has constitutional authority to direct agencies to issue documents only to those whose citizenship status is clear under current law.

International Context and Policy Variations

Approximately 30 countries worldwide, including Canada and Mexico, offer automatic citizenship to nearly everyone born within their territories through unrestricted birthplace-based citizenship (jus soli).

Many nations including Australia, Britain, Canada, China, Denmark, France, Germany, India and others have banned international commercial surrogacy altogether, recognizing potential exploitation concerns.

Some countries have modified birthright citizenship policies to require at least one parent be a citizen or permanent resident, citing concerns about citizenship tourism.

Motivations and Future Implications

Researchers who have studied Chinese birth tourism note participants cite various motivations including educational opportunities, ease of international travel, and potential immigration sponsorship decades in the future.

“What did US citizenship mean to them, if they were to go to such trouble, at such an expense, to obtain it for their children?” asks researcher Vanessa Hua, who studied maternity tourism. “Birth tourism raises compelling questions about belonging and identity, nationality and citizenship, questions considerably more complicated than what’s playing out in public debates.”

None of the mothers interviewed in studies planned to remain in the United States, having entered on tourist visas with intentions to return to their lives abroad after giving birth.

Rep. Brad Knott (R-NC) raised questions about the practice’s national security implications, asking why China would not exploit birthright citizenship policies “in order to control millions of ‘American citizens’ who remain loyal to China.”

The Supreme Court’s upcoming ruling on birthright citizenship challenges could fundamentally alter these projections by establishing whether the current broad interpretation of the 14th Amendment will continue or face new restrictions.

Should birthright citizenship policies distinguish between children born to parents lawfully present in the United States versus those on temporary visas or in the country illegally?

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