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House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., is subpoenaing a doctor allegedly behind a sprawling birth tourism scheme based in Florida.
It comes as Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, is setting his sights on a new target after his crackdown on the Smithsonian Institution made headlines and thrust fresh scrutiny onto its teaching of American history.
Gill’s task force on investigating institutional abuses, which is part of the House Oversight Committee, is now gearing up for a hearing on the practice of birth tourism — something the White House sounded the alarm on just this month.
As part of the hearing, Comer sent a subpoena to Dr. Wladimir Lorentz of Have My Baby in Miami, a South Florida business that’s aimed at helping foreigners give birth in the United States. The hearing is expected to take place Sept. 1.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., speaks to reporters at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 9, 2026. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo)
Comer accused Lorentz of refusing to voluntarily appear via his attorney, and in a letter sent with the subpoena on Tuesday, Comer said Lorentz’s attorney argued he could not speak with the committee due to a pending criminal probe being conducted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida.
“As the Founder and Chief Medical Officer of a company doing business as ‘Have My Baby in Miami,’ your knowledge regarding the company’s marketing practices and direct observations relevant to the birth tourism industry is vital to the immediate investigation,” Comer’s subpoena letter read.
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“Furthermore, given the national security concerns raised by birth tourism, delaying the hearing or deferring your testimony to some unknown date in the (potentially far) future would be an extraordinary action that would curtail the Committee’s ability to glean valuable information that will inform its oversight and further its legislative goals.”
Meanwhile, Gill echoed Comer’s concerns over national security.
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“A growing industry is openly marketing American citizenship to foreign nationals who travel here for the express purpose of giving birth on U.S. soil. This abuse of our immigration system also raises serious national security concerns, particularly given the number of birth tourists traveling from adversarial nations like China and Russia,” the House GOP firebrand said.
His panel’s Sept. 1 hearing is also expected to feature testimony from Dr. Steve Camarota of the Center for Immigration Studies. The medical director and owner of a company called International Maternity Services, Dr. Julio César Novoa, was also invited.
Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, arrives for the House Oversight and Government Reform Delivering on Government Efficiency Subcommittee hearing in the Rayburn House Office Building on July 21, 2026, in Washington, D.C. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)
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Gill’s new task force, which was founded this year, has largely focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts across various sectors of American life.
He’s held hearings on whether the Smithsonian’s teaching of U.S. history involved overly ideological and political leanings, and whether DEI plays a role in running the American Bar Association (ABA).
Birth tourism is the colloquial term for the general practice of foreign nationals coming to the U.S. on temporary visas for the purpose of having a child who then automatically becomes an American citizen.
President Donald Trump targeted birth tourism in a recent executive order after the Supreme Court struck down his efforts to curb birthright citizenship writ large. He also signed an order banning specific categories, such as children born to foreign government workers, from automatically getting U.S. citizenship.
Have My Baby in Miami is just one company that appears to make it more accessible for foreigners to give birth in the U.S. Its website and social media pages appeared to be disabled as of Thursday.
But a YouTube page that appears to be associated with the business states, “Many people have questions about how to have a child in the United States, and we can help clarify how to deliver in Miami, how to live in the United States during your pregnancy, how to have a baby in the United States, how much it costs to deliver in the United States and how to go through pregnancy in the United States.”
“Children who are born in the United States, with rare exceptions, have US citizenship,” the summary states.
President Donald Trump is pictured in the Oval Office after signing an executive order updating childhood vaccine recommendations on Aug. 10, 2026. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
An October 2025 article by Local 10 in Florida appears to have obtained information from the now-deleted pages, including that the company reportedly touted that it helped deliver 2,000 babies.
It’s not yet clear if Lorentz will appear. But defying a congressional subpoena could risk criminal charges.
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Digital reached out to his lawyer for comment.
