To: John Carragher who wrote (430660 ) 7/24/2024 7:31:40 AM From: d[-_-]b 2 RecommendationsRecommended By
Respond to It was just a few years ago I recall California hospitals overloaded with foreign pregnant mothers.cis.org In March 2015, CNN reported that one birth tourist used an address in "a high-end Irvine, Calif., apartment complex where one birth tourism company had rented a number of homes" for her newborn's passport application. A USA Today report on the investigation notes that the birth tourists were "promised Social Security numbers and U.S. passports for their babies before flying back home." On p. 76 of the warrant used to raid several birthing centers, the government lists "California birth certificates" as one of the items to be seized. ( Affidavit dated March 2, 2015 .) Clearly, the government believes that many of the women using such centers have the birth certificates sent to the centers and not to addresses in their home countries. This makes sense because waiting to get a birth certificate and passport before returning to your home country ensures that the birth has been properly registered and citizenship obtained. But this requires use of a U.S. address. I will add that my own personal experience also indicates that those engaged in birth tourism often provide a U.S. address. An immigrant family in my neighborhood in Fairfax County, Va., has complained to me that a relative who stayed with them before having her baby used their address and the family received bills from the hospital long after the women had delivered her baby and returned to her home country. nbcnews.com Feds Raid California 'Maternity Hotels' for Birth Tourists
