US Federal agents stormed 37 locations in Southern California early on Tuesday, gathering evidence about what they say are three illegal “birth tourism” businesses for wealthy Chinese women.
According to affidavits unsealed on Tuesday, the businesses arranged for pregnant women to travel to the US on tourist visas to give birth. The children would be US citizens, entitled to birth certificates and passports — and, when they turn 21, able to help their parents become legal residents of the US.
“This is still very much an ongoing investigation, coming after undercover activities that have lasted most of the last year,” US Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Virginia Kice said. “Today is just the execution of search warrants and evidence gathering. We are not anticipating any arrests right now.”
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The affidavits, filed in support of search warrants, describe businesses that charge clients up to US$60,000, with the size of the fee depending on housing arrangements, the number of Chinese-speaking nannies desired once the baby is born and other factors.
The businesses arrange the women’s transportation, housing and prenatal care, and obtain birth certificates and passports for the babies before they leave the country, the warrants said.
The companies caution the women to wear loose-fitting clothes, to lie to US authorities about the intent of their trip and not to wait too far into their pregnancy before traveling, the warrants said.
Most women arrive two or three months before their due date, many initially flying to a tourist destination like Hawaii or Las Vegas rather than Los Angeles airport, where there is greater scrutiny. They usually stay for about a month after giving birth, they said.
According to the affidavits, clients were told not to bring any maternity clothes and were given some coaching on how to answer immigration questions; one company, USA Happy Baby, promised a refund if a client was sent home at the airport.
While families from other countries have also engaged in so-called birth tourism, in recent years it has been most often Chinese who have been willing to pay large sums to have their children born in the US.
The births usually occur in Southern California, where, one of the affidavits said, Chinese women delivered more than 400 babies at just one Orange County hospital.
The affidavits quote Chinese government sources as reporting that Chinese nationals had 10,000 babies in the US in 2012, up from 4,200 in 2008.
One of the businesses said on its Web site, starbabycare.com, that since it began in 1999, it has served 8,000 pregnant women, 4,000 of them Chinese.
Zoning laws have generally been the primary legal tool against maternity hotels, since it is not illegal for pregnant foreigners to visit the US or to give birth while visiting. While lying to get a tourist visa is illegal, it is not easy to prove.
Tuesday’s raids, the largest so far, were an attempt to crack down on the industry promoting maternity tourism, rather than the women having the babies.
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