Texas has sued a China-linked operation the Attorney General’s office said has claimed responsibility for ‘1,000+ American-born babies.’
The state of Texas has filed a lawsuit against a Houston-area “birth tourism” operation that the Attorney General’s office said has claimed responsibility for “1,000+ American-born babies.”
The suit alleges that the long-standing “birth tourism” operation primarily helped foreign nationals from China travel to Texas to give birth in order to secure U.S. citizenship for their children.
“America is for Americans, not foreigners trying to cheat the system to claim citizenship,” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a statement on April 29. “The Center’s scheme not only facilitated an invasion of Texas, but it also involved shielding and facilitating violations of immigration law. Birthright citizenship is a scam that threatens national security, and I will do everything in my power to stop unlawful ‘birth tourism’ schemes like this one.”
Investigators said the operation ran across multiple properties in the Houston area, including locations in Sugar Land, Houston, Richmond, and Rosenberg. The facilities housed multiple families at once and, according to the state, were capable of facilitating a high volume of births tied to the business—up to 20 births a day, according to the attorney general’s statement.
The De’Ai Postpartum Care Center, named in the complaint, does not appear to have a website. A message left at the center’s phone number was not immediately returned on Wednesday.
The attorney general’s office claimed the center “coaches clients on how to navigate immigration procedures and evade immigration laws when seeking visas and citizenship for themselves and their child.”
The coaching allegedly includes encouraging Chinese nationals to enter or remain in the United States by concealing that the primary purpose of their travel is to give birth, which Paxton’s office said is unlawful.
“To make matters worse, operators of the Center were aware that U.S. visas are prohibited for birth tourism purposes. In fact, just last week, the Center noted that the federal government is ‘strictly’ policing birth tourism and recommended that women apply for visas ‘before pregnancy’ in order to avoid detection,” Paxton’s office stated.
By Tom Gantert
