Thread: Federal agents raid 20 suspected 'maternity hotels' in California

Federal agents raid 20 suspected 'maternity hotels' in California

• REUTERS

• MAR. 3, 2015, 1:29 PM

AP Photo/Gregory Bull

In this March 30, 2012 photo, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent waits with other agents outside of the home of a suspect before dawn as part of a nationwide immigration sweep in San Diego.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Federal agents raided about 20 Southern California locations on Tuesday suspected of involvement in "maternity tourism" schemes offering travel and lodging services to pregnant foreign women seeking to give birth in the United States, U.S. immigration officials said.

Authorities say the so-called maternity hotels targeted in the sweep catered largely to women from China who paid $15,000 to $50,000, depending on services provided, in hopes of obtaining U.S. citizenship for their children.

Based on the results of previous investigations, the women apparently pay cash for pre-natal medical treatment and actual delivery of their babies, according to a statement issued by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency, or ICE.

The locations searched included apartment complexes and other sites in Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernardino counties that were suspected of housing foreign clients, ICE said.

No criminal arrests were anticipated from Tuesday's raids, but investigators were seeking evidence related to such possible criminal offenses as visa and tax fraud, money laundering and conspiracy, according to the agency.

Any women encountered at the locations raided on Wednesday were to be interviewed, and those identified as potential material witnesses will be instructed where and when to report for further questioning, ICE said.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/r-fed...#ixzz3TMF9jzP2

Dr. Manny: 'Birthing tourism' not just a federal issue, it's medical too

By Dr. Manny Alvarez
Published March 03, 2015 FoxNews.com



Over the past five years or so I have noticed a growing trend in my delivery rooms, with new mothers asking almost immediately after I deliver their child, “How fast can I get the birth certificate?”

As many of you know, I deliver babies in the New York tri-state area. For years now, I have been amazed by the number of international women who arrive at Newark Liberty International Airport, John F. Kennedy International Airport and LaGuardia International Airport nearly full-term. They are then whisked off to nearest hospital ready to deliver their baby in America, gaining their child U.S. citizenship in the process.

I don’t know how these women are medically cleared to travel in such a state, and many times, I am sure that they attempt to conceal their pregnancy. As a practicing high-risk OB-GYN, the most frightening element of this trend is that it creates a dangerous scenario for the mother-to-be, baby and medical staff. The attending medical staff is dealing with very little medical information and almost no knowledge of what kind of prenatal care the pregnant woman has received.

Despite these dangers, and the fact that the practice is not new, there hasn’t been anything done to prevent it, which is why it did not surprise me to read the article “Feds crack down on Chinese ‘birth tourism,’” by Fox’s William La Jeunesse on our website. In it, he details a raid by federal officials in Southern California who served warrants at “Chinese birthing houses” or “maternity hotels.”

According to the article, wealthy Chinese couples were paying up to $80,000 to have their child born in the U.S., guaranteeing them U.S. citizenship.

This practice presents a rare ethical dilemma for us in the medical field. What makes it hard is that for physicians who really care about neonatal outcomes and minimizing internal injuries, these types of deliveries are putting both women and children in harm’s way. I will never deny obstetrical care to a patient who shows up at my doorstep, it is my bound duty to give them the best care that I can. But I am being asked to play a part in a script that I did not write.

We know that our immigration policy in America is broken, and I understand that the federal government is already trying to deal with the millions of illegal immigrats already here. But if we don’t find ways to protect humans from themselves, things will only get worse before they get better.

Political and economic conditions around this planet of ours are quite unstable, so I understand why parents do want to seek a U.S. birth certificate for their children. But I also know from personal experience in my practice, that there are parents who, as soon as their child receives citizenship, return to their native homeland. For what purpose, I do not know, but there are many American children who spend just a few weeks in their country before being brought back to their parents’ native homeland.

This is not a way to grow a nation, and it’s certainly something that medical societies and federal agencies must address. Women need protection, children need protection, but our health care system needs protection too.

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2015/0...cmp=latestnews

No criminal arrests were anticipated from Tuesday's raids, but investigators were seeking evidence related to such possible criminal offenses as visa and tax fraud, money laundering and conspiracy, according to the agency.

Oh, so no crimes were committed. This was just an exploratory raid, what they call on Law and Order, a fishing expedition. What's the issue? That a bunch of rich Chinese visitors came here on visas to drop some anchor babies? What's the problem? A bunch of Mexican illegal aliens who came here illegally without visas are doing the same thing, and we're handing them tax credits, Medicaid, welfare, work authorizations, amnesty, deferred action, low income housing, food stamps, free school lunch and ..... oh yeah, a path to citizenship.

I guess the difference is the Chinese came here legally and paid their own way. Well damn them all to hell! We don't want any people coming here with money in their pockets who abide our laws and pay their own way. Hell No! We want criminals who come here illegally and do not pay their own way, because this is how we become the World's Largest Banana Republic and the Biggest Pig Sty on the Planet.

Transformation, folks. That's what we want. Transformation. A new country of losers within our country of winners that plants "seedlings" of losers who "navigate" through our winners to infect US with failure.

Oh yes, the New America Nirvana: F. A. I. L. U. R. E.

Federal Agents Carry Out Search For Evidence Of Illegal Support For 'Birth Tourism'

MARCH 04, 2015 6:22 AM ET
NATHAN ROTT

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Federal agents searched more than three dozen locations across three counties in Southern California yesterday for evidence of "maternity tourism" operations.

Maternity tourism — or birth tourism — is when a citizen of another country travels to the U.S. to give birth, so the child automatically receives U.S. citizenship.

That in itself is not illegal. But federal authorities are investigating several businesses that may be breaking the law by helping wealthy Chinese women obtain U.S. visas under false pretenses.

Claude Arnold is the lead investigator for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He says the agency is looking at three organizations that advertise online to wealthy Chinese women who may want to give birth in the U.S.

"[The organizations] facilitate their travel," Arnold said. "They make arrangements for lodgings here, their medical care, etc.

So that [their clients] can have children born here as United States citizens."

In affidavits filed for the search warrants, federal authorities said that the businesses charged women up to $60,000 for coaching, facilitating travel to the U.S., lodging, hospital expenses, even nanny support.

Arnold said nobody has been charged at this point. They're just collecting evidence. He added that as investigators encountered pregnant women they weren't arrested, but interviewed.

"They're being treated as material witnesses to the overall conspiracy that we're investigating," said Arnold.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/...r-birth-touris

The Federal Criminal Conspiracy Law is found at Title 18 United States Code (U.S.C.) Section 371, and it states, “If two or more persons conspire either to commit any offense against the United States, or to defraud the United States, or any agency thereof in any manner of for any purpose, and one or more of such persons do any act to effect the object of the conspiracy, each shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years or both.

Originally Posted by JohnDoe2

The Federal Criminal Conspiracy Law is found at Title 18 United States Code (U.S.C.) Section 371, and it states, “If two or more persons conspire either to commit any offense against the United States, or to defraud the United States, or any agency thereof in any manner of for any purpose, and one or more of such persons do any act to effect the object of the conspiracy, each shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years or both.

What is the "offense"? To have a foreign baby on US soil so the US government hands them citizenship? Last time I checked, that is US government policy with every baby born on US soil. It's wrong for the government to do that, it's not a protected right under the US Constitution or any law under the jurisdiction of the United States, but that IS what the US government has been for doing many years. So what is the "conspiracy" to commit what "offense"? Tax evasion? Is there any evidence the businesses did not pay income tax on their income? And since when is ICE a tax collection agency?

From what I can see, there is no "conspiracy", because there is no "offense" to begin with. If DHS doesn't like Chinese anchor babies, then it better wise up and and stop granting birthright citizenship to any children of any foreign person, not under the jurisdiction of the United States, including illegal aliens and foreign tourists, business visitors, students, visa workers, and consumers.

Would their visa have been denied if they said they were coming here to use medical services? Would their visa have been denied if they said they were pregnant?

It's incredible how this "raid" exposes the racism in DHS that desires to fabricate some phony "conspiracy" "offense" against Chinese visitors coming here legally on a visa to have a baby and pay for it, where DHS can't get enough of those Mexican and Hispanic visitors coming here illegally without permission to do anything let alone have an anchor baby and demand Medicaid Services and US taxpayers pay for it.

Makes you wonder just exactly what US Civil Rights Act DHS thinks it's subject to. Apparently, like every other law of the United States, none.