Over a dozen homes in Southern California have been raided in a crackdown on Chinese ‘birth-tourism’ rings.
These rings arrange for wealthy Chinese women to visit the US on tourist visas while pregnant and give birth on American soil, thus granting their child automatic American citizenship. What’s more, when the child turns 21, the parents also qualify for a green card.
According to federal agents, although it’s perfectly legal for women to travel to the US while pregnant, it is illegal to lie about the reasons for visiting when applying for a visa.
The target of the bust was an upscale apartment complex in Orange County, home to a birth tourism ring that charged 50,000 USD for lodging, food and transportation.
Investigators say that the women are trained how to get through immigration by lying about their travel plans, wearing loose-fitting clothing and advised to enter the US through places such as Hawaii, where customs officials are supposedly more lenient.
No arrests have been made so far.
Source: ifeng.com
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Keywords: US Federal Agencies Crack Down on Chinese Birth Tourism
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Ha ha, the US is getting sick of Chinese faster than Canada did.
Mar 05, 2015 08:51 Report Abuse
It is same as germans claim they are superior race in Germany.
Mar 05, 2015 10:07 Report Abuse
"When picking examples from history, you may completely ignore any sense of a timeline or relativity in numbers, unless required for the point you are trying to make: everything that happened yesterday or a century ago is still valid today, and one handpicked scandal from the West is worth a thousand daily cases in China" [...] "Q: May I reverse this rule shall I be presented with an embarrassing counter-example? A: Do not worry, we already erased most of those from our books, your backup strategy is to deny their existence and call it a CIA conspiracy." - Ignorant Chinese troll manual
Mar 05, 2015 13:01 Report Abuse
Eorthisio, I agree with you that current Germany is probably one of the most democratic countries in Europe and certainly the least restrictive towards foreigners. In that sense Guest2239322 is totally wrong. However he/she simply overreacted over your more or less similar nonsense statement above. In any country there is certain amount of people who are nationalistic (including nowadays Germany - in some parts of former DDR lands the neonazis are real threat). The same applies for China. But each country also has certain part of population which simply wants to live a happy life based on their definition of happiness (for somebody it can be isolated place without no people and for somebody hard working environment in overcrouwded city). If any noticeable amount of Chinese would really consider emigration so the world how we know it now would probably stop existing - currently it's not difficult in China to get a passport and still majority of the population is not having it - same with US.
Mar 05, 2015 16:38 Report Abuse
The difference being: - Germany doesn't promote national socialism to its population as part of a political game. The neo-nazi groups are illegal and they are a threat to no one nor do they matter in any way politically. - No EU/US citizen would exchange his passport for a PRC passport, can you say the opposite? Here's why: - PRC China is an unstable self-destructing country where even the richest can not escape realities such as pollution or the complete lack of any stimulating intellectual life, for the few who are actually trying to climb the Maslow ladder. On top of that, no one's assets are secure and guaranteed by a fair state with a rule of law. Ergo, Chinese have, are and will always be looking for a way out because some of the nicest things in life (what you call "happy life") are simply not for sale. Oh and by the way, I'm not German but I could understand the difference between a German patriot and a German nostalgic neonazi. I know it's very hard from a Chinese standpoint with the CCP brainwashing wanting to tie a national feeling to a party, but yeah, there's a notion here. Finally, Chinese immigration wouldn't be such a problem if #1 The candidates knew how to behave and show some basic respect towards their host countries. #2 It wasn't mostly the result of exploiting legal loopholes defusing the whole purpose of what the laws are intended for #3 There was some actual reciprocity on the matter, just for the principle of it.
Mar 06, 2015 11:18 Report Abuse
Well - my point was not about European nationalistic groups but when reading your comment I assume that most probably you are not European. Otherwise you would know that on top of real real extremists who are indeed illegal there are also extremist who are playing in the grey field but that does not make them less dangerous - and they are virtually in every EU country and in the current environment even gathering strengths. I just wanted to say that probably every nation has certain part of xenophobic population. I leave apart the statement that there is a difference between nationalism and patriotism as this is not a part I commented. I just want to say that Chinese immigration currently is no threat to any Western country. Certainly it's absolutely no issue in any of the EU countries and certain tension is more or less only in Greece due to previous agreements about COSCO purchase of Piraeus. Nevertheless in current Greece situation even these tensions came to the opposite guard and Greece is trying to attract Chinese investments (together with Russians one). Even though I am not American I honestly doubt that Chinese immigration would be a problem there. I also do not see anything wrong on anybody taking advantage of the existing law system and it was also mentioned in the article (it's not illegal to come to US to deliver child). Nevertheless the next statement in the article that it's illegal to lie about the purpose of the visit a bit confuses me - what about when a person has several reasons and what about when these reasons change in the meantime in the sense that it will not effect the visa condition validity? On top of that how it can be all proved - or it will not be proved but just some 'smart' officer decides what is 'true' reason? Nevertheless also this was not part I commented. In my country the Chinese immigration is no danger and Chinese immigrants are not seen as threat. Just opposite - under current economical environment in Europe there is a tendency to simplify the immigration procedures for Chinese citizens. Majority of the Chinese immigrants I know are quite successful people because if they do not succeed so it's easier for them to return to China than to struggle in EU. Saying all of this you can probably be aware of the simple fact that majority of Chinese do not want to leave their country and when talking about emigration so we talk about very very small portion of population - and that was the point I was pointing out on Eorthisio statement. Nothing to do with any 'brainwashing' or things like that - unless of course you talk about some active contributors on this site but even then I would probably argue because you cannot wash something you do not have ...
Mar 06, 2015 15:58 Report Abuse
Then once again, what is the relation between nationalist groups which, last time I checked, have no political power in Europe, and the state sponsored, carefully stirred and crafted xenophobia in China that can be heard in the press, in public boards, on the streets, you name it, without the slightest hint there might be something wrong about that. You are voluntarily or not mixing up two phenomenons having very little in common, and when I say little, it's rather nothing at all. I agree when you say Chinese immigration is no threat to anyone: it's an annoyance more than a threat, but still an abnormal situation that ought to be corrected before it becomes a thing. And you might think there is no problem about some of them abusing (not merely taking advantage) the legal systems since it is after all perfectly normal here, but the fact is that as a citizen of my country, I do not want to have random PRC peasants getting the right to abode in my neighborhood simply because they had the money to fuck up with whatever investor program, given their horrible international record. Everyone I know that has been confronted to them thinks the same. Many governments have already tightened their immigration regulations, you should get your facts straight about that. And don't take me wrong, here, we are merely talking about residency privileges, we haven't even scratched yet the problem of citizenship, which should plainly be a definitive NO for what Hong Kongers happen to call "double-negatives". Now you tell me a majority of Chinese do not want to leave their country, I wonder what you got to back that up, given the fact the huge majority will never be given the choice anyway. Please enlighten me because I have the hardest time believing you. In fact, I'm ready to bet on everything I ever earned and had in my life that if tomorrow the US embassy went nuts and decided to hand over passports to anyone, you'd have hundreds of kilometers of queue in no time, even despite the bad press, even despite the fingers pointing. Dare saying the same about PRC passports? Thought so.
Mar 06, 2015 16:56 Report Abuse
I have no comments over US government immigration policy as it's not my country. My approach towards this differs from yours, apparently your country and also from my country and China's approach. I believe into free and equal opportunities and therefore I would not see any trouble in any immigrants to my country as long as they can succeed on their own. Subsequently it would also contribute to the healthy mix of cultures and attitudes to the benefit of all as shown on many historical examples (I guess including US). Nevertheless I am not trying to persuade you - your opinion about 'random PRC peasants' is absolutely fine with me even though I do not share your point of view. Just wondering why did you then come to the 'nest' of these 'random PRC peasants'and now you are forced to see them continuously around you - but it of course is none of my business and I do not ask you for the reply ...
Mar 06, 2015 17:40 Report Abuse
Just so there's no misunderstanding, I have nothing against an immigration policy rewarding merit based on proven records and credentials of the applicants, which would be open to any country. Citizenship to be discussed. What I stand against is: investment programs, birth tourism, and generally anything based on solely money. I don't think this is that extremist. And you still didn't answer on the "Chinese don't want to leave" issue but I don't blame you.
Mar 06, 2015 17:49 Report Abuse
Dear RiriRiri, Let me point out that your statements contradict. On one hand you claim that majority (or at least big portion) of Chinese are nationalists and on the other hand you are convinced they would be happy to forget their nationality. I guess it's either or ... Coming back to you assumption that in case US embassy would be handing over citizenship so there would be hundreds of kilometers queues in no time - probably yes. But it has two aspects - hundred km queue is about 200,000 people (if each person takes half an meter - just for sake of calculation) - that makes it about 0.015% of the Chinese population. Even 10,000 kms long queue would make just for about 1.5% of the population - even this does not sound that much ... But even if these queues would be 400,000 kms (what I seriously doubt) so it's highly questionable if all these people want to really emigrate - may be they just want to have another possibility and thus make the most out of their abilities and skills in order to live happily. Of course neither you nor myself can be sure what would be the final outcome and these are just correct or wrong assumptions. But what stays that the person can hardly be nationalist with very clear hostility towards all non Chinese and concurrently happy to abandon China and Chinese nation going to US or EU. I would then not call using the possibilities the existing law offers abusing of the law. If the law offers such possibility so it's using of the law and not abusing - otherwise we come to the problem who decides what is right usage of the law and what already not (what I mean is that the person perfectly follows the legal pattern of the country and then somebody comes and says - you can do that and you not ...). Europe had in the past a lot of people who knew better than everybody else what is good for country and people and how the law should be applied (irrespective of its wording) and it usually did not end up that well ... In that sense I am more inclined to see all the acts which do not contradict the existing legal system as lawful and if the majority of the population in the country does not like it so there is no other way than to initiate the change of the legal system (with all the risks and possible consequences connected with such a procedure). In that sense I find strange that on one hand US authorities say that these women had a right to deliver child on US soil and on the other hand they say they did not have a right to enter the country because they lied about the visa purpose. But I am not a lawyer specialized in US law so I leave this out. I just want to say that it's hard to imagine this would be any serious problem for both China and US as I assume that we talk just about few hundred - or as maximum few thousands of cases. And I do not see anything wrong with any person motivation to secure more option for their children or themselves. One of the elementary economical rules is recommending portfolio diversification in order to minimize risk and maximize long term profit. If some country does not want to have such cases so they either need to change own legislation or to live with it. I once more let me point out that I was commenting on oversimplified and totally unsupported original statement (comment No. 9). But let me also add that I am strongly convinced we can end the conversation here as I do not assume I would be able to persuade you and it's also not my aim. Apparently our opinions and experience with this country and people living here are different and as long as we are both able to keep our different opinions and cherish on 'living them' so I find it OK. I would not like to live your life and you would apparently not like mine - nothing wrong with that.
Mar 07, 2015 16:53 Report Abuse
There is nothing wrong with the original statement of Eorthisio, it only takes one to read Chinese expat websites (like ECC's favorite Wenxuecity) to get convinced. "And I do not see anything wrong with any person motivation to secure more option for their children or themselves" Yeah, well that's the problem of people who see everything in term of assets or potential benefits. You can't compute the fact a citizenship isn't a financial option, but the endorsement of a common set of values, a culture and maybe a destiny, among others. Which is how I know you're not a real expat but rather a wumao who struggles while you could be raiding SCMP for quick bucks. Seriously, ask for a promotion. As for the rest of your demonstration, what you say is utterly ridiculous on every single aspect and I don't think you are going to convince anyone around here.
Mar 08, 2015 16:24 Report Abuse
They'd just have to follow all those "immigration firms" on the internet and they could spot all the scams and legal loopholes even before they start becoming a thing. Baidu + 美国移民, notify your embassies and you're good to go for decades. You know... in lieu of sniffing bulk communications...
Mar 04, 2015 20:47 Report Abuse
You say that as if it was an easy thing to do. Do you even know why citizenship at birth is the law in the US?
Mar 04, 2015 20:48 Report Abuse
HAHAHA... little do they know that their precious brat will be liable to pay tax to the US gov for the rest of their lives even if they never step foot on US soil.
Mar 04, 2015 19:34 Report Abuse
Yeah, like they'd give a shit about being law abiding citizens. You'll have a commie president before that happens.
Mar 04, 2015 20:49 Report Abuse
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