{"id":2622041,"date":"2026-07-01T08:52:57","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T12:52:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/citizenship-has-become-a-financial-product-ripe-for-exploitation-by-birth-tourists-and-illegals\/"},"modified":"2026-07-01T08:58:49","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T12:58:49","slug":"citizenship-has-become-a-financial-product-ripe-for-exploitation-by-birth-tourists-and-illegals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/citizenship-has-become-a-financial-product-ripe-for-exploitation-by-birth-tourists-and-illegals\/","title":{"rendered":"Citizenship Has Become A Financial Product"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">12<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fcitizenship-has-become-a-financial-product-ripe-for-exploitation-by-birth-tourists-and-illegals%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2622041&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The article discusses how <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/white-house-releases-list-of-president-trumps-accomplishments-and-it-is-historic\/\" title=\"White House Releases List of President Trump...s Accomplishments \u2013  And It Is Historic!\">birth tourism<\/a> in the United States has transformed citizenship into a commodified product, primarily valued for the ability too access social benefits and economic support. It highlights how foreign visitors, such as wealthy Russians or others, come to U.S.clinics or cities to give birth, effectively purchasing citizenship for their children, which they see as a way to secure a lifelong right to live, work, and collect benefits in the U.S. Citizenship is portrayed not as a matter of loyalty or identity but as a financial asset, with the government providing future social security, tuition, and other benefits. The piece notes that this market is dynamic, with businesses thriving on repeat customers and elaborate arrangements like luxurious birth hotels. The author emphasizes that this transactional view diminishes the meaning of citizenship, framing it as a cheap, low-entry program designed for economic gain rather than allegiance or shared values. The judicial discussions and policy debates are shown to overlook the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/saudi-arabia-proposes-ceasefire-with-houthi-rebels\/\" title=\"Saudi Arabia proposes ceasefire with Houthi rebels\">economic incentives<\/a> driving birth tourism, which undermine the traditional concept of citizenship as a societal and political bond. Ultimately, the piece critiques how this financialized approach reduces citizenship to a benefit-based commodity, stripping away its traditional meaning of belonging and civic participation.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>The United States of America, now with 20 percent more benefits than the American Express Platinum Card\u00ae.<\/p>\n<p>Legal systems talk about legal doctrine, and the Supreme Court\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/opinions\/25pdf\/25-365_4hdj.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">opinions<\/a> in the birthplace citizenship case decided this week kicked off with a discussion of 17th-century English precedent. The discussion between justices is anchored in centuries of history and theory, but it\u2019s mostly not anchored in a more immediate question: When a pregnant \u201cbirth tourist\u201d in another country pulls up the website for an <a href=\"https:\/\/doctoresparati.com\/childbirth-in-the-usa-faqs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">American obstetrics clinic<\/a> that specializes in delivering babies for foreign visitors, what does she think she\u2019s trying to get? What is <em>U.S. citizenship<\/em> to parents who use a border crossing to obtain it for their children?<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Maternity service in El Paso, TX\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/68C94FNGj8w?feature=oembed&#038;enablejsapi=1\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><\/span> <\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>There are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/modabirthandtourismservices\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">many businesses<\/a> clustered around this industry, and there have been many more. They die and come back under new names as they get shut down. Suburban cities around Los Angeles have assigned police detectives and code enforcement officers to their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/opinions\/25pdf\/25-365_4hdj.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">birth hotel problem<\/a>, because people buy houses and cram them full of beds for pregnant foreign visitors. Citizenship is a <em>product<\/em>, <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/05\/14\/us-news\/house-oversight-committee-launches-probe-of-four-birth-tourism-companies-in-us\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">marketed<\/a> like consumer goods. <\/p>\n<p>Or, more simply, citizenship has become a consumer good.<\/p>\n<p>In Florida, the business called Miami Mama catered to wealthy Russians. As a 2018 NBC News story <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/news\/us-news\/birth-tourism-brings-russian-baby-boom-miami-n836121\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">explained<\/a>, a U.S. passport is a status symbol in Russia, the beaches and hotels are nice while mom waits for the baby to drop, and the newborn \u201cgets a lifelong right to live and work and collect benefits in the U.S.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So what is <em>citizenship<\/em>? It\u2019s a condition in which you can <em>collect benefits<\/em>. It means the government has to give you money. Citizenship is a future Social Security check. <\/p>\n<p>Proving the point, a 2025 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.migrationpolicy.org\/news\/birthright-citizenship-repeal-projections\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">policy paper<\/a> from the Migration Policy Institute (MPI), arguing against the repeal of birthright citizenship, warned that repeal would have \u201cprofound social and economic impacts.\u201d People losing citizenship, the paper warned, would be \u201cunable to access <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/marketmind-unstable-cable\/\" title=\"Marketmind: Unstable cable\">economic supports<\/a> in times of need.\u201d Oh no.<\/p>\n<p>Among the other harmful impacts, MPI warned that people losing citizenship would lose \u201cin-state tuition or financial aid for higher education in many states.\u201d The discussion of citizenship is a discussion about cash value, and who has to pay the tuition at UCLA.<\/p>\n<p>A 2020 <a href=\"https:\/\/cis.org\/CIS\/Birth-Tourism-Facts-and-Recommendations\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">fact sheet<\/a> from the Center for Immigration Studies also discussed the example of birth tourists \u201cwho come to the United States to give birth and <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >receive taxpayer-funded public assistance<\/a> to cover the associated costs of their births,\u201d so the economic benefits sometimes appear at the starting line.<\/p>\n<p>So citizenship is collecting benefits, accessing economic supports, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/latin-americas-communist-axis-rallies-around-vladimir-putin\/\" title=\"Latin America&#039;s Communist Axis Rallies Around Vladimir Putin\">receiving financial aid<\/a>. It\u2019s not allegiance or affinity. It\u2019s not loyalty. It\u2019s not admiration for your supposed countrymen, or a yearning for Lockean pluralism, or a commitment to constitutional governance, or a willingness to support the American social and political order, or participation in a shared culture. Citizenship is a dollar value and a set of programs.  <\/p>\n<p>And about that set of economic supports: A 2022 Senate committee <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hsgac.senate.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/imo\/media\/doc\/2022.12.20-%20Final_Birth%20Tourism%20Report.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">staff report<\/a> on birth tourism presented evidence that birth tourists tend to be repeat customers, as \u201cmany birth tourists traveled to the United States several times to secure citizenship for their children.\u201d The same report also discussed the chartered yacht available for pregnant customers of Miami Mama as they waited to give birth, if you\u2019d like to see pictures of the boat. Yes, it had leather upholstery.<\/p>\n<p>The justices weren\u2019t entirely blind to the economic meaning of a debate about citizenship, and Associate Justice <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hachettebookgroup.com\/titles\/mollie-hemingway\/alito\/9781541607132\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Samuel Alito<\/a> made the problem explicit on the final page of his long dissent: \u201cThe Court\u2019s interpretation preserves a powerful incentive to enter or remain in this country illegally. Immigrants naturally prefer affluent countries where economic opportunities are available. Other than Canada, the United States will be the only affluent nation where birth alone is enough to establish citizenship.\u201d Of course the discussion was about economic incentives, and of course the court mostly didn\u2019t notice that point.<\/p>\n<p>The creation of a transactional \u201ccitizenship\u201d diminishes <em>citizenship<\/em>. In the face of the great financialization of everything, we\u2019ve turned a nation into a national cafeteria, bizarrely marketing a superior welfare state as a benefit of a kind of low-barrier-to-entry membership program. Get to El Paso by the middle of the eighth month, and your child wins a lifetime of free prizes. <\/p>\n<p>Call that what you want, but it isn\u2019t being a citizen.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Chris Bray is a senior correspondent at The Federalist and a former infantry sergeant in the U.S. Army. He has a history PhD from the University of California Los Angeles, not that it did him any good. He also posts on Substack, at &#8220;Tell Me How This Ends,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/chrisbray.substack.com\/\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>US citizenship now viewed as a benefit, not loyalty<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2086,"featured_media":2622042,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/have-my-baby-scaled.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[7161,82029,82027,82028,9177],"class_list":["post-2622041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-citizenship","tag-economic-citizenship","tag-financial-products","tag-global-mobility","tag-investment"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/have-my-baby-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2622041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2086"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2622041"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2622041\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2622049,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2622041\/revisions\/2622049"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2622042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2622041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2622041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2622041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}