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Associated Press

A judge on Monday sentenced a woman to 10 months in prison for her role in a business that helped pregnant Chinese women travel to the United States to give birth to children who would automatically receive US citizenship.
US District Judge James Selna issued the sentence in Santa Ana, California, to Dongyuan Li, who wiped away tears with her hand several times during the hearing.
Selna said he expected her to be released from custody later on Monday because of time served.
Federal prosecutors opposed the sentence and said they believed Li should be sentenced to years in prison to deter others from helping women lie on visa applications and hide pregnancies in these so-called birth tourism schemes.
Chinese birth tourism row: Canada hospital sues mother of million-dollar baby
“I just think it sends the wrong message,” Charles Pell, the federal prosecutor, told the judge.
Li pleaded guilty earlier this year to conspiracy and visa fraud for running a birth tourism company in Southern California known as “You Win USA”.
Federal authorities said the company helped more than 500 Chinese women travel to the United States to deliver American babies, and that Li used a cluster of apartments in Irvine, California, to receive them.
Authorities said the company coached the women to lie on their visa applications and to hide their pregnancies when passing through customs in US airports.
Why ‘birth tourism’ from China persists, despite US crackdown
Li was arrested this year following a years-long investigation into birth tourism schemes that charged Chinese travellers tens of thousands of dollars to deliver their babies in Southern California. Authorities said Li was a birth tourism customer and later got involved in running the business.
In a letter to the court, Li, a mother of four, said she has taken English and music lessons and read books and exercised daily while in custody.
“I am very sorry for the mistakes that I have made,” she wrote in the December 1 letter filed with the court. “I truly sincerely apologise for any harm that I have caused to the American society.”
US homes raided in crackdown on pregnant Chinese ‘birth tourism’ rings
Her lawyer, Thomas O’Brien, told reporters the sentence was fair as prosecutors only documented seven cases where travellers lied to engage in birth tourism. He said others stated on visa forms they were travelling for tourism or medical reasons.
Dan Showalter, supervisory special agent for Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s homeland security investigations in Los Angeles, said Li has a valid visa in the United States but following the sentencing immigration authorities will begin proceedings to deport her to China.
He said agents will continue to investigation birth tourism cases, noting this one was the first of its kind.
“I don’t think we’re going to let the sentence sway us from doing what we do,” he said.


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Chinese overseas

Chinese woman Dongyuan Li sentenced to 10 months over US birth tourism scheme

Federal agents in March 2015 prepare to raid an upscale apartment complex in Irvine, California, where authorities say a birth tourism business charged pregnant women US$50,000 for lodging, food and transport. Photo: AP

Chinese woman Dongyuan Li pleads guilty to running ‘birth tourism’ scheme in California

Federal agents enter an upscale flat complex in Irvine, California during a raid in 2015. File photo: AP

US charges 20 people over Chinese birth tourism schemes

In this 2015 file photo, federal agents gather before raiding an upscale flat complex where authorities say a birth tourism business charged pregnant women US$50,000 for lodging, food and transport, in Irvine, California. On Thursday, authorities announced they have charged 20 people in a crackdown on businesses that helped hundreds of Chinese women travel to the United States to give birth to American citizen children. Photo: AP

FILE - In this March 3, 2015 file photo, federal agents enter an upscale apartment complex where authorities say a birth tourism business charged pregnant women $50,000 for lodging, food and transportation, in Irvine, Calif. On Thursday, Jan. 31, 2019, authorities announced they have charged 20 people in an unprecedented crackdown on businesses that helped hundreds of Chinese women travel to the United States to give birth to American citizen children. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

Chinese birth tourism: pregnant women in California’s ‘maternity hotels’ given voice in empowering novel

Vanessa Hua’s A River of Stars explores the immigrant experience in the US from a new perspective, taking the reader inside maternity boarding houses where myriad characters, each with their own reason for being there, exist

This handout photo shows Vanessa Hua Photo: HANDOUT [POSTMAGAZINE 2018]

In 2012 there could have been as many as 36,000 birth tourists in the US. Picture: Alamy

A river of Stars by Vanessa Hua Photo: HANDOUT [POSTMAGAZINE 2018]

Vanessa Hua during her 2008 reporting trip to China Photo: Courtesy of Vanessa Hua [FEATURES 2018]

Police investigate a complex in California suspected of being a “maternity hotel”, where Chinese women board to give birth on American soil, in 2015. Picture: Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times

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World

United States & Canada

China


Her company is said to have helped more than 500 Chinese women deliver babies in California so they would receive American citizenship
Li expected to be released from custody because of time already served, but will now face deportation proceedings



Dongyuan Li’s company said to have helped more than 500 Chinese women deliver babies in California so they would receive American citizenship.


United States

Crime

Chinese tourists

Chinese woman Dongyuan Li sentenced to 10 months over US birth tourism scheme

Her company is said to have helped more than 500 Chinese women deliver babies in California so they would receive American citizenship Li expected to be released from custody because of time already served, but will now face deportation proceedings

Her company is said to have helped more than 500 Chinese women deliver babies in California so they would receive American citizenship

Li expected to be released from custody because of time already served, but will now face deportation proceedings