US homes raided in crackdown on pregnant Chinese ‘birth tourism’ rings
Homes raided as agents target services accused of helpingforeign women deliver more than 400 babies in US for automatic citizenship
Federal agents have searched more than a dozen homes in a crackdown on so-called "maternity tourism" operators who arrange for pregnant Chinese women to give birth in the US, where their babies automatically become American citizens.
Agents targeted three alleged maternity tourism rings operating out of apartment complexes and other sites in Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernardino counties on Tuesday.
The businesses, catering largely to wealthy women paying up to US$80,000, were believed to have helped Chinese tourists deliver more than 400 American babies, court papers said.
There is nothing in US law making it illegal for pregnant women to enter the United States - and no one was arrested in the raids.
But operators of the maternity hotels were suspected of obtaining non-immigrant US visitor visas under false pretenses, as well as engaging in tax fraud, money laundering and other offences, said Claude Arnold, special agent in charge of the Homeland Security Investigations office in Los Angeles.
Businesses engaged in maternity tourism, also known as "birth tourism", were believed to have been operating for years, relying on websites, newspaper advertising and social media to promote their services, immigration officials said.