Chinese women continue traveling to the U.S. Pacific island of Saipan to secure American citizenship for their newborns, despite tighter entry rules and a sharp decline in the practice, according to a Telegraph report examining the businesses arranging the trips and local concerns about federal enforcement.
The newspaper’s reporting describes a network of translators, drivers, caregivers and companies serving expectant mothers on the island, part of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Chinese-language websites advertise assistance obtaining birth certificates, Social Security cards and U.S. passports, while doctors and residents say the trade persists even as pregnant visitors have become less visible.
The report comes as Secretary of State Marco Rubio moves to restrict visas for people who participate in or facilitate commercial birth tourism. Announced Sept. 23, the policy targets network operators, intermediaries who coach applicants to commit visa fraud, and foreign medical providers who knowingly facilitate such travel and Medicaid fraud. The State Department says the effort is aimed at dismantling businesses that charge families tens of thousands of dollars while helping them conceal the purpose of their trips.
One translator, identified by the newspaper under the pseudonym Melanie, described helping a 36-year-old Chinese woman who arrived alone and handed her a bag containing cash and a credit card before undergoing a C-section.
“She told me she came for the US passport,” Melanie told The Telegraph. “She said, ‘I don’t have too much money, but I want to give my kids two choices: China or another country. The US passport gives me two countries.’”
The account illustrates the central attraction of the business: children born on the island receive American citizenship, giving families a connection to the United States even when they return to China.
According to hospital figures cited in the report, births attributed to tourism reached 581 in 2018, accounting for 46 percent of the island’s deliveries. That share fell to about 10 percent in 2024 and 8 percent last year. A reduction in the permitted stay for Chinese visitors from 45 days to 14 days, along with pandemic disruptions, helped shrink the trade.
Residents interviewed by The Telegraph said pregnant tourists once were a familiar sight at beaches and shops. The remaining business appears less conspicuous, with women staying in apartments and relying on others for transportation, groceries and medical appointments.
“You look at the statistics of the hospital, and there are still people giving birth here,” local worker Kim Ocampo told the newspaper. “So maybe actually we’re just not really aware of it. Before, it was more visible.”
The reporting also raised questions about the women’s welfare and the island’s ability to handle complicated pregnancies. Dr. Geoff Fraiche, who has delivered babies for suspected birth tourists, said some arrive with translators apparently connected to agencies, while others have little assistance. He expressed concern that some women could be vulnerable to exploitation or trafficking.
Fraiche and Melanie described a wealthy couple who remained on Saipan for their child’s birth despite warnings that the island lacked the care the baby might need. According to Melanie, the family departed for China on a private jet a day after the delivery, having obtained a U.S. passport for the child.
Saipan Mayor Ramon Camacho told The Telegraph that federal authorities should take greater responsibility for monitoring arrivals.
“Customs and Border Protection is the point of entry, so they have all that information,” he said. “They should monitor. What I’m seeing is a lack of enforcement. I think that’s what they need to focus on.”
Beyond immigration enforcement, the report examined concerns about Chinese influence in a strategically important American territory near Taiwan and the U.S. military facilities on Guam. Local official Glen Hunter warned that birth tourism could eventually give people connected to the Chinese Communist Party access to the United States through citizenship acquired at birth.
Those warnings describe a potential security vulnerability; the accounts presented do not establish that the mothers interviewed were participating in an espionage operation. The most direct evidence in the report concerns a continuing commercial trade in childbirth and citizenship—and local officials’ questions about whether federal authorities are adequately overseeing it.
[READ MORE: Pope Takes On Leftism In France]
