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.
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
morning or late in the afternoon or in the evening, groups of Chinese pregnant women can
be seen walking along the Beach Road Pathway on Saipan to exercise their legs since this
is one of the prenatal activities that helps in having easier childbirth.
It
has allegedly become a lucrative business in China where travel agencies were even reportedly offering tour packages to Saipan. From the airport, these
Chinese pregnant women are picked up and housed in an apartment already
reserved for them. During their clients’ stay on Saipan, they will be helped by
caretakers by cooking their meals, cleaning their rooms, and washing their
clothes. These caretakers, usually employed by the one who picks them up at the
airport, are reportedly paid $1,000 a month.
These
pregnant women can enter the CNMI once they have proper documentation and since,
according to the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, just giving birth is not a
basis for you to be denied entry in any state or territory since there are no
U.S. immigration laws or regulations that bars pregnant foreign nationals to
enter the U.S. or prohibit such practice. Chinese tourists also enjoy a visa waiver
program under U.S. immigration and are allowed to stay in any U.S. state or
territory for only 45 days.
“Coming to the U.S. to give birth does not, in and of
itself, render an individual inadmissible,” said US CBP San Francisco Field
Office program manager and public affairs liaison Frank Falcon. "Or, if a
foreign national, has overcome all grounds of inadmissibility. There is no
inadmissibility ground within the U.S. immigration law that prohibits the birth
of a child in the U.S.”
Falcon added that CBP officers determine the admissibility of a
traveler or any individual who is applying as a temporary visitor based on
their inspections but must first overcome all grounds of inadmissibility. Foreign
nationals can also get medical care and other treatment provided that they can
pay their own bills.
“As with any traveler, CBP will examine whether or not the
traveler is admissible. The intent to enter the U.S. must be consistent with
the visa/entry documents presented for entry. Including the requirement that
the traveler not [to] abandon foreign residence, has no intent to return, will
be able to maintain status while in the U.S., and be able to provide for all
attendant costs while in the U.S. (including medical and personal costs) and for
return.”
Airlines also implement a policy of not allowing heavily pregnant
women or those who are due to give birth to travel due to safety issues. Women
who are 32 weeks pregnant are allowed by air carriers to board while asking for medical certificates for those who are 35 weeks in their pregnancy.
Statistics
In 2016 numbers alone, from
the Commonwealth Health Center, show an increasing trend of tourists giving
birth in the CNMI. From only 314 in 2014 to 383 in 2016. Back in 2009, there
were only eight recorded child births from Chinese parents and that jumped to
282 in 2012, or 3,000 percent. The numbers continue to increase as they spiked to
another 150 percent from the current data.
Foreign parents have also given
birth to 715 babies from Jan. 2015 to Sept. 2016 where 692 of the total number
were by Chinese women. The 2015 calendar year also had 379 childbirths by
Chinese nationals. There were also 15 babies born to Korean parents, five
to Filipinos, two Japanese, and one Russian during 22 months. All of
these babies are now U.S. passport holders and their numbers could possibly
increase as the 2017 calendar year is about to end next month.
The increasing numbers had the
Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. implementing a new policy of not processing the
documents of newborn babies until all medical bills are settled by their
parents. There were some incidents in that woman who gave birth allegedly leave
the CNMI without settling their medical bills after getting their child’s U.S.
passport.
CHCC is following the provisions of the Emergency Medical
Treatment and Labor Act—a federal law requiring patients, including women who
are in labor, who are admitted to emergency care to be treated regardless of
status or ability to pay the medical bills.
Busted
In November 2017, the FBI uncovered a large-scale birth tourism network on Saipan based on
an anonymous tip that led to the investigation of Sen Sun’s alleged operations.
Sun was supposedly overstaying Chinese tourists that accept pregnant women that
wanted to give birth on Saipan as his clients where he houses them in an
apartment in Garapan.
These
pregnant Chinese women wanted to have their babies obtain U.S. citizenship and
in return, they could also become one after their child becomes eligible to
petition them when they reach the age of 21. They are paying thousands of
dollars from a birth tourism ring that has connections in mainland China only
to get the chance of giving birth on Saipan.
Sun
has been bringing most of his clients to the Marianas Medical Clinic near
downtown Garapan for regular prenatal checkups and childbirths. He’s been
allegedly operating an unlicensed business that offers package trips to
pregnant Chinese women to give birth on Saipan to have their babies obtain automatic U.S. citizenship.
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