A Chinese Woman Allegedly Helped 500 Mothers Give Birth in the US to Get Their Babies Citizenship

[Elderberry]

Vice by Meera Navlakha 9/24/2019

She’s part of the popular “birth tourism” industry.

Not all citizenships are created equal. Benefits like more “powerful” passports and better healthcare have pushed mothers in developing countries to give birth in places like Canada and the United States where children born on their soil are almost instantly granted citizenship. This is becoming a massive trend among the mainland Chinese, so much so that there is now a controversial industry dedicated to it.

On Sept. 18, a Chinese woman in California pleaded guilty to working with 500 pregnant women—most of Chinese origin—to help them give birth in the U.S.

Dongyuan Li, 41, charged the women $40,000 to $80,000 in exchange for her services. She would allegedly help them travel to the U.S. and stay there until they give birth. Li operated under a company called You Win USA Vacations Services Corp. The BBC reported that You Win’s website ensured an American nationality is the “most attractive” to have and that it would supply customers with “priority for jobs in U.S. government.”

More: https://www.vice.com/en_asia/article/8xw5zz/chinese-woman-helped-500-mothers-give-birth-united-states-citizenship

[jmyrlefuller]

Especially if the expected child is a girl. With Chinese two-child policy, having that fallback in case their country rejects the child's existence helps.

[jafo2010]

The complete failure of Congress is getting old.  Loopholes like this should have been eliminated decades ago, but we have a self serving Congress that just does not serve the citizens of the USA.  Getting real old.

[dfwgator]

Get a rope!