In December 2020, a birth tourism ring was busted on Long Island that proves, according to many conservatives, that this is a pressing issue that needs to be addressed by the current administration’s push for immigration enforcement. Prosecutors on the case revealed that over 100 pregnant women from Turkey came to the U.S. to give birth to babies to ensure they were granted U.S. citizenship.
Along with ensuring their children had citizenship, the women also took full advantage of the Medicaid system, pilfering millions of taxpayer dollars in the process. An employee in Smithtown is the one who helped blow the lid off the scheme by noticing an odd pattern of birth certificates. There were five babies from one household at the same time.
This led to an investigation that exposed an international fraud scheme, an alleged birth tourism ring that had been operating in Long Island for almost three years. Eastern District Acting U.S. Attorney Seth DuCharme stated that “The defendants fraudulently facilitated the births in the United States of approximately 119 Turkish children, and those children now hold birthright U.S. citizenship.”
According to a report from CBS News, the 14th Amendment grants citizenship to any child born on U.S. soil; however, officials say in this case, the leaders of the ring in Turkey actually advertised their intent, saying, “If you believe your baby should be born in the USA and become an American citizen, you are in the right place.”
The part of this that is believed to be illegal are the lies told in order to obtain travel visas and fraudulent Medicaid claims for babies and mothers who stayed at seven birth houses located across Suffolk County. Prosecutors say these women paid up to $10,000 each for accommodations and free health care provided by U.S. taxpayers.
“They are doing it on the backs of taxpayers. They’re milking the Medicaid system,” Suffolk County District Attorney Tim Sini went on to say. The report then said that a total of six people were arrested and subsequently charged with money laundering and $2 million in Medicaid fraud. At the time, President Donald Trump, then serving his first term, was made aware of the threat posed by birth tourism and took action.
“It is estimated that over 30,000 childbirths occurred in the United States last year alone in connection with this practice,” Christopher Lau of the Department of Homeland Security explained. Prosecutors working the case said the arrests aren’t about stopping immigration, but those who are trying to play the system. “The desire to have a child born in the United States is understandable, but the methods and means employed by these criminals are both unlawful and completely unacceptable,” DuCharme told the media.
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Prosecutors also slammed the defendants in the case, calling them selfish individuals who don’t view the children and their mothers as human beings, but as a means to make themselves wealthy. CBS News then revealed that the defendants entered not guilty pleas at virtual arraignment hearings. The mothers who participated in the ring were not charged.
Featured Image: screenshot from embedded video