‘Birth Tourism’ Hotel for Chinese May Be Shut Down by California Officials

A “birth tourism” hotel in Orange County, California, may be shut down by the local city council after years of helping Chinese women deliver their children in the United States for the sole purpose of securing birthright American citizenship.

Last week, the planning commission board in Orange County voted to strip the JR Motel of its permit after years of it operating to secure birthright citizenship for the U.S.-born children of Chinese women with little-to-no ties to the U.S.

The Orange County Register reported that birth tourism has “become common in southern California” and that the JR Motel was filled with nurseries and strollers while staff would help Chinese women schedule and travel to doctor’s appointments. The hotel, according to the planning commission, does not take public reservations.

Officials with the planning commission said they were not stripping the birth tourism hotel of their permit because the owner is operating a birth tourism business, but because his intentions were not clear when he secured the permit in 2015.

As Breitbart News reported in December, a Chinese national was convicted and sentenced to just ten months in prison for operating a birth tourism business that helped secure birthright American citizenship for the children of more than 500 pregnant foreigners, earning $3 million in the process.

In January, President Donald Trump’s administration issued a new regulation allowing consular officers who grant B-1 and B-2 visas, temporary business and tourist visas, the ability to deny such visas if they believe a foreign national intends to travel to the country for the primary purpose of delivering a child on U.S. soil and thus securing them birthright citizenship.

Every year, as Breitbart News reported, the birth tourism industry delivers about 33,000 U.S.-born children, commonly referred to as “anchor babies,” who secure birthright American citizenship despite their foreign parents having only come to the country on visitor visas. Previous research has put the annual estimate for birth tourism anchor babies at 36,000.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.