Birth Tourism Inadmissibility Act (S5023)

Current understanding

S5023 would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to add a new ground of inadmissibility for aliens who seek U.S. citizenship for their children by giving birth in the United States (commonly framed as ‘birth tourism’). The bill targets the intent of prospective entrants rather than the citizenship status of the child, meaning it would operate at the visa/admission stage rather than altering the Fourteenth Amendment’s Citizenship Clause. Status: introduced in the Senate; no committee action reported.

Evidence log

• 2026-07-23 — To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to provide for the inadmissibility of certain aliens seeking citizenship for children by giving birth in the United States, and for other purposes.: House companion measure HR9919 introduced with the same purpose — amending the INA to render aliens inadmissible when seeking U.S. citizenship for a child by giving birth in the United States — indicating bicameral pursuit of birth-tourism restrictions via admissibility rather than by narrowing the Citizenship Clause. (novelty: 2)
• 2026-07-16 — To clarify United States birthright citizenship laws in the territories and combat foreign nationals who are seeking citizenship in the United States territories.: cross-connection with territorial-birthright-citizenship-clarification-hr9724: Both target birth-tourism pathways to U.S. citizenship — S5023 through INA inadmissibility grounds for those seeking U.S.-born children, HR9724 by narrowing the territorial route specifically. (novelty: 2)
• 2026-07-16 — A bill to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to provide for the inadmissibility of certain aliens seeking citizenship for children by giving birth in the United States, and for other purposes.: cross-connection with birthright-citizenship-act-2025: Both pursue restriction of automatic-citizenship pathways for children of non-citizens, but S5023 works at the inadmissibility stage while HR569 attempts to redefine birthright citizenship itself. (novelty: 2)

Open questions

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