CT Attorney General denies birth tourism despite proof


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During a recent appearance on CNN’s “Laura Coates Live,” Connecticut Attorney General William Tong (D) dismissed claims about birth tourism, calling it “a hateful fantasy” despite documented cases handled by the Biden administration’s Justice Department.

When host Laura Coates questioned how Tong would legally address concerns about birth tourism potentially undermining birthright citizenship, Tong responded, “I think that’s a hateful fantasy, frankly, and I don’t see evidence of it. I see people who we need in Connecticut, who we need as part of our economy, people who are working, who are contributing, like my family, like my parents. They came here with nothing. They worked in a Chinese restaurant. They worked seven days a week, 12–15 hours a day. They worked themselves sick. I watched them do it. And, in one generation, I went from working side-by-side with my parents in a hot Chinese restaurant in Wethersfield, Connecticut, to being the Attorney General of our state. That is the enduring beauty of our country. It is the core of the American Dream, and that’s what we’re fighting for.”

However, recent legal cases suggest otherwise. Earlier this year, the Justice Department successfully prosecuted two California residents for orchestrating a birth tourism operation that charged Chinese nationals substantial fees to facilitate births in America, securing U.S. citizenship for their children. Similarly, in 2021, a Turkish national pleaded guilty to fraud charges related to a birth tourism scheme in Suffolk County that operated from 2017 to 2020.

The Department of Homeland Security has expressed serious concerns about these practices. A DHS official noted, “The criminality of birth tourism manipulates our visa and immigration systems and diverts precious financial resources from an already exhausted health care system that serves our local communities to combat COVID-19 and other critical needs.” The issue has garnered such attention that the American Journal of Perinatology, supported by National Institutes of Health funding, conducted research examining birth tourism’s impact on neonatal health.