It’s not new, but ‘birth tourism’ is a growing CNMI industry
(This story was published in the Pacific Island Times, where I currently do freelance work. I used a pen name back then to prevent any conflict with the Saipan Tribune. The Pacific Island Times is a Guam-based magazine with veteran journalist Mar-Vic Cagurangan as publisher. https://www.pacificislandtimes.com/single-post/2017/12/05/It%E2%80%99s-not-new-but-%E2%80%98birth-tourism%E2%80%99-is-a-growing-CNMI-industry Birth tourism is an issue in the CNMI and it was again thrown into the spotlight a few years ago after the Federal Bureau of Investigation discovered an alleged large-scale operation on the island of Saipan following a tip made by a local physician. Birth tourism has become an underground industry in the CNMI with pregnant Chinese women flocking to Saipan to give birth on U.S. soil, which automatically provides American citizenship to their newborn child. Most of these women leave the CNMI after childbirth and receive their babies’ U.S. passports. Early mo