A woman from California was sentenced to more than three years after bars for her role in a “birth tourism” scheme in which women traveled to the United States to give birth, giving the citizenship of birth law of the birth law of the birth of Child, a spokesman for the United States Prosecutor’s Office in the Central District. of California confirmed.
Jing Dong, also known as Phoebe Dong, and her husband, Michael Wei Yueh Liu, were convicted In September, with a conspiracy charge and 10 charges of international money laundering. Liu was sentenced last year to 41 months in prison, the same sentence received Dong.
While the case has years, the sentence occurs when President Donald Trump seeks to end birth citizenship. Instituted a Executive order In an attempt to finish it, but a federal judge in Seattle temporarily blocked The order. According to the fourteenth amendment, children born in the United States are considered American citizens. Some expectant mothers travel to the United States to give birth as a way of winning US citizenship for their children.
Dong and Liu were among more than a dozen people accused in 2019 in birth tourism charges. The 19 accused people, who were linked to three different schemes, supposedly helped thousands to give birth in the United States according to authoritiesThe three companies announced that the US.
“The way of life of the United States is not on sale,” said Joseph Macias, then a special agent in charge of the Los Angeles National Security investigations, in a 2019 press release about the accusations. “HSI will aggressively address those who will make fun of our laws and our values to benefit and enrich themselves. No one needs to remember national security and public security implications of visa fraud and crimes associated with it. Exploit generosity From our nation and our legal immigration system should be notified: they can end up being those who will pay a very high price. “
Between January 2012 and March 2015, Dong and Liu charged Chinese clients tens of thousands of dollars to help them give birth in the United States, according to the Department of Justice. They directed a maternity house in Rancho Cucamonga, California, and rent apartments for pregnant Chinese women. Women would generally return to China within one or two months of giving birth.
While pregnant people can visit the United States, Customs and border protection On their website, he points out that the officers will take into account the expiration date of a pregnant individual and the time they plan to remain in the US. UU. Deciding whether that person will be allowed to enter the country.
Liu and Dong would advise their clients on how to hide their pregnancies, authorities said. Through your business use Happy Baby Inc., they would advise customers to fly to the USA. Through “entry ports with Perceived less customs scrutinyLike Hawaii, before flying to Los Angeles, to wear baggy clothes, to favor certain lines in the customs they perceived as less strict and how to answer the questions of customs officials, “said the Department of Justice.