Articles and Videos

U.S. Department of Justice Memo Directs Prosecutors to Address Fraudulent “Birth Tourism”

Last week, the U.S. Department of Justice issued a memo directing prosecutors to address fraudulent “birth tourism” in the United States.

U.S. citizenship is guaranteed under the Fourteenth Amendment for “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof,” and courts have held that nearly everyone born within the country’s boundaries is a U.S. citizen. But testimony before members of Congress has shown that foreign nationals are using fraudulent tourist visas and international surrogacy contracts to have children born on American soil with U.S. citizenship — a practice commonly referred to as “birth tourism.”

Peter Schweizer, President of the Government Accountability Institute, testified before the U.S. Senate in March that between 750,000 and 1.5 million Chinese babies have been born in the U.S. specifically to obtain American citizenship — with the intention of being raised in China. In his testimony, Schweizer said:

These individuals grow up in China, often educated in CCP-controlled schools with distorted views of U.S. history, values, and culture. They have no lived connection or demonstrated allegiance to our country, yet they possess full rights as U.S. citizens: the ability to vote in elections, relocate here at will, and—upon turning 21—sponsor their parents as permanent residents.

The Daily Wire recently visited several homes in Houston that the State of Texas says are helping Chinese nationals travel to the U.S. on tourist visas “for the sole purpose of giving birth.” The homes are tied to a birthing center that has allegedly facilitated the births of more than 1,000 American-born babies who are then taken back to China. Because the children are born on U.S. soil, they receive birthright citizenship — even though the parents intend to raise the children in China.

Birth tourism often relies on false visa applications — which violates federal law. Now the U.S. Department of Justice appears to be prepared to address the issue.

In a memo released June 30, the DOJ said, “The Department of Justice will investigate and hold accountable those who engage in this unlawful conduct, as well as those who solicit and sell these criminal services to others.” The memo notes that while most of these cases may be prosecuted as visa fraud, prosecutors should consider other possible violations — such as wire fraud, money laundering, identity theft, health care fraud, and others.

Birth tourism wrongly exploits birthright citizenship, but when it’s done in conjunction with commercial surrogacy, it also demeans women and children.

We have written repeatedly how commercial surrogacy laws in the U.S. make it possible for corporations and wealthy couples to pay women thousands of dollars to carry children for them, and news outlets report Chinese nationals are exploiting America’s largely unregulated surrogacy industry to acquire children born in the U.S. with U.S. citizenship.

Last year The Wall Street Journal uncovered how Chinese billionaires are taking advantage of America’s surrogacy industry to create what some call “mega-families” with dozens — or even hundreds — of children. One wealthy Chinese executive allegedly “hired U.S. models and others as egg donors to have 10 girls, with the aim of one day marrying them off to powerful men.”

Arkansas U.S. Senator Tom Cotton and Florida U.S. Senator Rick Scott recently urged the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate surrogacy centers operated by foreign nationals, writing:

“Recent reports have uncovered more than 107 Chinese-owned surrogacy agencies operating in Southern California alone. These agencies cater almost exclusively to wealthy Chinese clients, and some are affiliated with Chinese state-owned entities. Chinese nationals pay women living in the United States more than $50,000 to serve as surrogates. The children are born on United States soil and granted automatic citizenship. And in most cases, the infants are promptly flown to China and raised there under the direct influence of the Chinese Communist Party.”

Social commentators and policymakers worldwide have raised concerns about how commercial surrogacy financially pressures women into providing children for paying customers.

That’s part of the reason Family Council has opposed commercial surrogacy in Arkansas.

Commercial surrogacy deliberately deprives children of their biological mothers or fathers.

It treats pregnancy like a “service” that can be purchased.

It treats women like commodities, and it treats children like products that can be made to order and sold for profit.

Human beings are not products that can be manufactured and exported to other countries. Our laws need to respect that fact. Policymakers should take steps to address commercial surrogacy and “birth tourism” in America.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

READ MORE