Understanding "Birth Tourism": A Thriving Business in a Legal Gray Area

A tearful Phoebe Dong, speaking in court, recalled growing up under Communist China’s one-child policy, saying the government forced her mother to have an abortion. Moving to America was difficult, but she found hope in motherhood and sought to help Chinese women have additional children in California.

On Monday, Ms. Dong, now a Californian, was sentenced at the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, located at Los Angeles, to 41 months in prison for running a business that helped pregnant Chinese women give birth in America to secure citizenship for their children. Ms. Dong and her husband, Michael Liu, were last year convicted of conspiracy and laundering money through their company, USA Happy Baby.

Ms. Dong’s sentencing comes amid renewed debate over birthright citizenship, reignited by President Trump’s recent (and very controversial) executive order attempt to restrict it — an effort swiftly blocked by a federal judge as “blatantly unconstitutional.”

Here’s a non-partian deep-dive into the tourism aspect of birthright, which I hope gives a little more nuance and understanding than a flashy X headline…