Conservative 
Search
Trending
Current News
We support our Publishers and Content Creators. You can view this story on their website by CLICKING HERE.
Amid talks of doing away with birthright citizenship, a California man was sentenced to over three years in prison for his part in a “birth tourism” scheme involving Chinese mothers.
Monday, 59-year-old Michael Wei Yueh Liu of San Bernardino County learned his fate nearly a decade after he and his wife, 47-year-old Jing Dong, had run a business catering to pregnant Chinese women. While “birth tourism” itself was not against the law, each was convicted of one count of conspiracy and 10 counts of international money laundering for how they operated.
“From at least January 2012 to March 2015, Liu and Dong ran a maternity house in Rancho Cucamonga. Liu and Dong rented apartments in Southern California to provide short-term housing and provided other services to pregnant women from China who traveled to the United States to give birth so their children would acquire U.S. citizenship,” explained a release from the Justice Department. “Typically, within one or two months after giving birth, the women returned to China.”
The couple were said to have advised on how to get visas to enter the United States as well as “how to hide their pregnancies from the immigration authorities. Liu and Dong also knew — or deliberately avoided learning — that their customers lied on their visa applications submitted to immigration authorities to enter the U.S.”
Clients were also coached on what lines to use when traveling, to wear loose clothing, and to not “waddle” and, in exchange for the services offered by USA Happy Baby Inc., the couple charged between $20,000 and $40,000 per client and up to $100,000 for VIPs, according to prosecutors as affluent women sought to give birth to children who would reap the benefits of having American citizenship.
Part of the scheme involved lying on applications asserting trips were being taken to Hawaii, New York, or Los Angeles for a number of days to see the sights when in reality they would spend months in housing set up by USA Happy Baby Inc.
Liu’s attorney Kevin Cole had, according to the Associated Press, sought no more than 26 months for his client who faced a maximum sentence of five years for the conspiracy charge and up to 20 years for each money laundering charge. The judge was asked to consider his client’s 95-year-old father, 82-year-old mother, and teenage son, each of which Liu cared for.
“He’s somebody that has lived an honorable life,” argued Cole. “There’d be no benefit to him or the public for an extensive prison sentence in this case.”
The convict had said himself, “I am not here to deflect responsibility, but to seek mercy,” and while U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner said, “These are choices you make, not that the court makes,” he was still granted leniency with the sentence.
As President-elect Donald Trump prepares to return to the White House, he has repeatedly signaled that he is in favor of putting an end to birthright citizenship as part of his effort to secure the border and restore national sovereignty in the United States.
Dong’s sentencing is expected in the weeks to come.
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn’t researching current events and their impacts, you’ll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.
