US cracks down on 'maternity tourism'

LOS ANGELES: US investigators on Tuesday launched dawn raids at locations suspected of offering "maternity tourism" services to foreign-national women planning to give birth in the US to gain citizenship for their newborn.
Pregnant individuals pay up to $50,000 (RM180,000) for such arrangements, which include lodging, transportation and food, but do not include medical care," the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency said.
The women paid in cash for pre-natal checks and the actual delivery.
When babies born in the US reach adulthood, they can apply for visas for family members living abroad.
ICE spokesman Virginia Kice said the raids, in three dozen locations, were aimed at gathering "further evidence related to a variety of possible criminal violations, including visa and tax fraud, money laundering and conspiracy".
According to ICE, the maternity tourism businesses cater mostly to Chinese women who pay $15,000-$50,000, which can include getting social security numbers and US passports for their offspring.
Kice added that "operators of the businesses coached clients to misrepresent the purpose of their visit in order to obtain tourist visas to enter the US".
The women were also instructed to wear loose clothing on their inbound flights and not carry baby paraphernalia in their luggage to avoid suspicion by authorities.
It is not illegal for pregnant women to enter the United States and there were no arrests during the raids.
But if someone uses fraud or deception to obtain a visa or gain admission into the US, that would constitute a criminal act, said ICE. – AFP