The Department of Justice has officially told federal prosecutors everywhere to start hunting down birth tourism operations, because apparently "USA Happy Baby Inc." was a real company name that real people chose on purpose and expected nobody to find suspicious.
Deputy Attorney General Colin McDonald sent out a memo on June 30, 2026, directing prosecutors nationwide to team up with the Department of Homeland Security and start building cases against birth tourism networks. As The American Tribune reported, officials say foreign nationals are lying on visa applications and deliberately misleading border agents about why they are traveling to the United States, all so they can give birth on American soil and lock in citizenship for their children. The long game is that once those kids grow up, they can sponsor their parents for immigration. It is basically a two decade layaway plan for a green card.
McDonald is not just looking for visa fraud either. He wants prosecutors digging for the heavy stuff: money laundering, identity theft, wire fraud, and health care fraud. If the evidence is there, he wants the book thrown.
The memo highlighted several past cases to show prosecutors what they should be aiming for. In 2024, Michael Wei Yueh Liu and Jing Dong each got 41 months in prison for running that aforementioned California operation, USA Happy Baby Inc., which helped Chinese clients secure fake visas, hide their pregnancies from border agents, and set up housing stateside. Nothing says "legitimate business" like coaching pregnant women on how to conceal a baby bump from federal officers.
Then there was Ibrahim Aksakal in New York, who got 27 months in 2022 for running a birth tourism ring targeting Turkish speakers. His operation literally handed pregnant women a script to use on immigration officials. He also had to fork over nearly $400,000 and pay more than a million in restitution, which is a steep price for what amounts to running a very specific travel agency.
Going back to 2020, a man named Chao "Edwin" Chen got three years for masterminding a business called "You Win USA." He was charging clients between $40,000 and $80,000, which included coaching on how to lie to officials. At those prices, you would think the service would at least include a decent hotel.
McDonald said the DOJ plans to keep going after both the individuals participating in these schemes and the people organizing and profiting from them. The Executive Office for United States Attorneys will also be providing additional guidance and resources to help prosecutors identify these cases going forward.
So if you were thinking about naming your next startup something like "Definitely Not A Birth Tourism Company LLC," maybe hold off on filing that paperwork.
Read more American news stories at: The American Tribune
