A California woman was on Monday sentenced to more than three years in prison in a long-running case over a business that helped pregnant Chinese women travel to the US to deliver babies who automatically became US citizens.
US District Judge R. Gary Klausner gave Phoebe Dong (董晶) a 41-month sentence and ordered her immediately taken into custody from his federal court in Los Angeles.
Dong and her husband, Michael Liu (劉維岳), were convicted in September last year of conspiracy and money laundering through their company, USA Happy Baby.
Photo: AP
The sentencing came as birthright citizenship has been thrust into the spotlight in the US with the return of US President Donald Trump to the White House. Since taking office, he issued an executive order to narrow the definition of birthright citizenship, a move quickly blocked by a federal judge who called it “blatantly unconstitutional.”
Dong and Liu were among more than a dozen people charged in a crackdown during the administration of then-US president Barack Obama on so-called “birth tourism” schemes that helped Chinese women hide their pregnancies while traveling to the US to give birth. Such businesses have long operated in various states catering to people from China, Russia, Nigeria and elsewhere.
Under the 14th Amendment, any child born in the US is a US citizen. Many have seen these trips as a way to help their children secure a US college education and a better future — especially as the tourists themselves can apply for permanent residency once the children turn 21.
During her sentencing hearing, Dong wiped away tears as she recalled growing up without siblings due to China’s strict “one-child” policy and told the court that the Chinese government forced her mother to have an abortion.
Moving to the US was challenging, but she grew hopeful after having children of her own and saw she could help Chinese women who want to have additional children in California, she said.
“I don’t want to lose my kids,” she told the court. “I hope you can give me fair judgement. I will take all my responsibility.”
Federal prosecutors sought a more than five year sentence for Dong and said that she and Liu helped more than 100 pregnant Chinese women travel to the US.
They said the pair worked with others to coach women on how to trick customs officials by flying into airports believed to be more lax while wearing loose-fitting clothing to hide their pregnancies.
“For tens of thousands of dollars each, defendant helped her numerous customers deceive US authorities and buy US citizenship for their children,” prosecutors said in court filings.
In December last year, Liu was sentenced to 41 months in prison.
Dong’s lawyer, John McNicholas, asked that she be allowed to serve her term after Liu completes his sentence because of their three children. The youngest is 13.
Federal prosecutor Kevin Fu agreed to the delay, but Klausner refused and had her taken into custody immediately.
Dong removed a necklace and gave it to a family member before she was led away.
ANGER: A video shared online showed residents in a neighborhood confronting the national security minister, attempting to drag her toward floodwaters Argentina’s port city of Bahia Blanca has been “destroyed” after being pummeled by a year’s worth of rain in a matter of hours, killing 13 and driving hundreds from their homes, authorities said on Saturday. Two young girls — reportedly aged four and one — were missing after possibly being swept away by floodwaters in the wake of Friday’s storm. The deluge left hospital rooms underwater, turned neighborhoods into islands and cut electricity to swaths of the city. Argentine Minister of National Security Patricia Bullrich said Bahia Blanca was “destroyed.” The death toll rose to 13 on Saturday, up from 10 on Friday, authorities
Local officials from Russia’s ruling party have caused controversy by presenting mothers of soldiers killed in Ukraine with gifts of meat grinders, an appliance widely used to describe Russia’s brutal tactics on the front line. The United Russia party in the northern Murmansk region posted photographs on social media showing officials smiling as they visited bereaved mothers with gifts of flowers and boxed meat grinders for International Women’s Day on Saturday, which is widely celebrated in Russia. The post included a message thanking the “dear moms” for their “strength of spirit and the love you put into bringing up your sons.” It
DEBT BREAK: Friedrich Merz has vowed to do ‘whatever it takes’ to free up more money for defense and infrastructure at a time of growing geopolitical uncertainty Germany’s likely next leader Friedrich Merz was set yesterday to defend his unprecedented plans to massively ramp up defense and infrastructure spending in the Bundestag as lawmakers begin debating the proposals. Merz unveiled the plans last week, vowing his center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU)/Christian Social Union (CSU) bloc and the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) — in talks to form a coalition after last month’s elections — would quickly push them through before the end of the current legislature. Fraying Europe-US ties under US President Donald Trump have fueled calls for Germany, long dependent on the US security umbrella, to quickly
In front of a secluded temple in southwestern China, Duan Ruru skillfully executes a series of chops and strikes, practicing kung fu techniques she has spent a decade mastering. Chinese martial arts have long been considered a male-dominated sphere, but a cohort of Generation Z women like Duan is challenging that assumption and generating publicity for their particular school of kung fu. “Since I was little, I’ve had a love for martial arts... I thought that girls learning martial arts was super swaggy,” Duan, 23, said. The ancient Emei school where she trains in the mountains of China’s Sichuan Province
RSS