California Woman Helped Dozens of Secretly Pregnant Chinese Women Enter US to Give Birth

A California woman was sentenced to 41 months in prison for helping more than 100 pregnant Chinese women seeking birthright citizenship for their expectant children enter the country.

Phoebe Dong and her now separated husband Michael Liu owned and operated USA Happy Baby. Through it, the Guardian reported they charged expecting Chinese mothers tens of thousands of dollars—up to $100,000 in some cases—to fly them into what they deemed were lenient airports at which they tricked customs officials into letting in the pregnant women by dressing them in loose-fitting clothing.

The couple was charged conspiracy to commit immigration fraud, international money laundering, identity theft and filing false tax returns for neglecting to report more than $1.9 million acquired over three years. Additionally, between 2013 and 2014, the couple used 14 different bank accounts to accept more than $3.4 million in wire transfers from China, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reported.

Dong tearfully told the court her mother was forced to abort a child because of China's former one-child policy. After she had three children in the US, she said she wanted to help other Chinese women do the same.

Although she plans to appeal her sentencing, Dong took responsibility for her enterprise.

"I don't want to lose my kids," she told the court, according to the Guardian. "I hope you can give me fair judgment. I will take all my responsibility."

While it's not a crime to travel to the US while pregnant, travelers are not allowed to lie to US consular and immigrations officials about why they are doing it.

Dong is one of 19 people charged for operating "birth tourism" businesses in California that aided Chinese women in giving birth in the States, according to the ICE. The schemes are present in other states as well and help women from Russia, Nigeria and other countries, the Guardian reported.

The crackdown comes after President Donald Trump campaigned to end birthright citizenship then issued an executive order narrowing its definition his first week in office. However, a federal judge blocked the order for being "blatantly unconstitutional."