Woman sentenced to over 3 years in prison for helping pregnant women travel to US to give birth

News Express |28th Jan 2025 | 451
Woman sentenced to over 3 years in prison for helping pregnant women travel to US to give birth




A California woman was sentenced Monday to more than 3 years in prison in a long-running case over a business that helped pregnant Chinese women travel to the United States to deliver babies who automatically became American citizens.

U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner gave Phoebe Dong a 41-month sentence and ordered her immediately taken into custody from his federal court in Los Angeles. Dong and her husband were convicted in September of conspiracy and money laundering through their company, USA Happy Baby.

The sentencing came as birthright citizenship has been thrust into the spotlight in the United States with the return of President Donald Trump to the White House. Since taking office, Trump 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 her husband, Michael Liu, were among more than a dozen people charged in an Obama-era crackdown on so-called “birth tourism” schemes that helped Chinese women hide their pregnancies while traveling to the United States to give birth. Such businesses have long operated in various states catering to people from China, Russia, Nigeria and elsewhere. (AP, excluding headline)

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, California, March 3, 2015.




Comments

Post Comment

Monday, November 10, 2025 9:04 PM
ADVERTISEMENT

Follow us on

GOCOP Accredited Member

GOCOP Accredited member
logo

NEWS EXPRESS is Nigeria’s leading online newspaper. Published by Africa’s international award-winning journalist, Mr. Isaac Umunna, NEWS EXPRESS is Nigeria’s first truly professional online daily newspaper. It is published from Lagos, Nigeria’s economic and media hub, and has a provision for occasional special print editions. Thanks to our vast network of sources and dedicated team of professional journalists and contributors spread across Nigeria and overseas, NEWS EXPRESS has become synonymous with newsbreaks and exclusive stories from around the world.

Contact

Adetoun Close, Off College Road, Ogba, Ikeja, Lagos State.
+234(0)8098020976, 07013416146, 08066020976
info@newsexpressngr.com

Find us on

Facebook
Twitter

Copyright NewsExpress Nigeria 2025