You can also watch the video by clicking on the Play Button
Homeland Security agents swept into The Carlyle, a luxury property in Irvine, California, which housed pregnant women and new moms who allegedly paid over $40,000 to $80,000 to give birth in the United States.
None of the women were arrested and paramedics were on hand in case any of them went into labor during the crackdown. They are being treated as material witnesses since the investigation was aimed at ringleaders who pocketed hundreds of thousands of dollars tax-free.
The organizers who allegedly ran the Carlyle site, Chao Chen and Dong Li, used a website to describe the benefits of a child with U.S. citizenship: 13 years of free education, low-cost college financial aid, less pollution, and a path for the entire family to emigrate when the child becomes an adult.
Clients were counseled on what lies to tell to obtain a tourist visa; how to fly through Hawaii, Las Vegas or Koriea to avoid suspicious immigration officers at Los Angeles International Airport; and how to disguise their pregnancy in transit, according to search warrant affidavit unsealed Tuesday.
The women were then set up at the Carlyle, which charges about $3,000 a month for a two-bedroom apartment and features amenities including private balconies, a resort-style pool, and cabanas with flat-screen televisions.
The women's handlers provided transportation for doctor visits and trips to restaurants and shops. They were funneled to several Orange County hospitals to deliver, but they didn't pay full price — approximately $25,000 — for medical services, officials said. Instead, they got reduced rates for the indigent, ranging from nothing to $4,000.
That meant big losses for the hospitals. More than 400 babies linked to the scheme were born at just one facility in a two-year period.
The investigators discovered that the parents of one baby born in April 2014 who paid the hospital just $4,000 were spending money at the Wynn Las Vegas Hotel, Rolex and Louis Vuitton, using an account with almost a quarter of a million dollars in it.
China's one-child policy is contributing to the trend of pregnant Chinese women traveling to California to give birth in collusion with tour companies who bring them to the United States under false pretenses.
It is unclear what will happen to the women.
"I’m sure that part of what investigators will
consider is: If you send back to China a pregnant woman who came here to skirt
the one-child policy, would she be forcibly aborted?" Women’s Rights
Without Frontiers President Reggie Littlejohn said.
“If news of the raids reaches China, it may deter some
pregnant women from traveling to the United States, due to a fear of being
prosecuted for lying on their visa applications…The number of Chinese women who
make such "maternity" trips to the United States annually is in the
"thousands", Ms Littlejohn added.
China eased its one-child policy in 2013, stating that if
one or both parents are an only child, they can seek official approval to have
a second child of their own. Many parents are reluctant to have a second child
in China because of the regulations involved and the high cost of living.
Littlejohn said another motivation for pregnant Chinese
women to seek U.S. citizenship for their babies is their desire to give them a
U.S. education. As U.S. citizens, their children will have the ability in the
future to go to U.S. colleges and pay regular tuition fees as opposed to the
higher tuition fees for foreign students.
Some Chinese parents also hold the U.S. education system
in high esteem. The Los Angeles Times quoted a Chinese woman at one of the
raided "maternity hotels" as saying, “America has the world's best
universities.”
There is one catch, though.
Getting a U.S. passport for a baby means the child will eventually be
responsible for U.S. taxes.
edited from CNBC VOA and CNN
