Los Angeles — Monday’s punishment for a California man running a sizable company assisting pregnant Chinese women in traveling to the United States to deliver infants with automatically American citizenship was roughly 3 1/2 years in jail.
After Michael Wei Yueh Liu, 59, was found guilty in September of conspiracy and money laundering for running a corporation called USA Happy Baby, U.S. officials requested a more than five-year jail sentence. Though the couple have since split, Phoebe Dong, Liu’s wife, was also found guilty about the plan and is set to be jailed early next year.
Liu was brought into custody after getting a 41-month sentence and guided out of the courthouse by police. He handed his attorney his belt and a folder and held Dong’s hand momentarily while she wept.
Liu had begged in court for forgiveness to take care of his 13-year-old son and elderly parents, all of whom depend on him; approximately a dozen supporters, many from his church, were there to offer moral support. Since a 2015 raid on his company, Liu claimed his family has suffered greatly for almost ten years.
“My intent was always to uphold the values of integrity and responsibility, so I regret any actions or decisions that may have brought us to this moment of judgment,” Liu said to the court during his sentence hearing. “I have tried my best to remain a source of stability for my family, but my incarceration will position them in more vulnerability.”
He added, “I am not here to deflect responsibility but to seek mercy.”
Although defendants’ family members are generally the ones suffering, U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner noted the defendant’s acts, not the court’s, caused the damage. Still, Klausner claimed he was lowering the term based on Liu’s family circumstances.
“These are decisions you make, not those the court orders,” Klausner remarked.
Between 2012 and 2015, USA Happy Baby reportedly assisted several hundred women from China in traveling from China to deliver U.S.-citizen babies. During their stays in Southern California, the visitors paid as much as $40,000 for services including apartment rentals. They also worked with foreign companies that coached women on what to say during visa interviews and upon arriving at American airports, advising them to wear loose clothing to conceal their pregnancies.
“For tens of thousands of dollars each, defendant helped his many clients fool U.S. authorities and purchase U.S. citizenship for their children,” federal prosecutors said in court filings. “This illegal behavior is severe and deserves a substantial sentence to encourage respect for the law and hold the defendant accountable.”
Prosecutors refused to speak right away following the sentence.
Liu’s attorney, Kevin Cole, wanted his client to serve his sentence from home and suggested that he face no more than 26 months. Cole asked the judge on Monday to take into account his client’s vital role as the caregiver for his 95-year-old father and 82-year-old mother, shuttling them to medical appointments, bathing them, and cooking their food, and his otherwise good life growing up in Taiwan — serving in its military, and attending to his family.
“He’s somebody that has lived an honorable life,” Cole told the court. “For this case, neither the public nor he would gain from a long prison sentence.”
The proof against Liu and Dong goes back years. Federal authorities searched more than a dozen homes in Southern California in a 2015 crackdown on operators of companies catering to Chinese women seeking to deliver their babies in the United States and four years later charged the pair and more than a dozen others, including a woman who pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 10 months in prison for running a company known as You Win USA.
These companies have long been in operation in California and other states and have served persons from Russia, Nigeria, and elsewhere in addition to China. While pregnant, visiting the United States is not prohibited; nonetheless, it is against policy to lie to U.S. consular and immigration officials regarding the travel motivations on official government documentation.
The United States has birthright citizenship, which many feel could help their children secure a U.S. college education and provide a sort of future insurance policy — especially since the tourists themselves can apply for permanent residency once their American child turns 21.
Once in power, President-elect Donald Trump has pledged to revoke birthright citizenship; any such attempt would be severely hampered legally.
Source: Man sentenced for helping pregnant Chinese women travel to give birth in the US