The Texas Attorney General’s Office accuses De’Ai Postpartum Care Center of operating a scheme aimed primarily at Chinese women who traveled to the Houston area at the time of birth to obtain United States citizenship for their children.
The Texas Attorney General’s Office filed a lawsuit against De’Ai Postpartum Care Center, a company with operations allegedly linked to the Houston area, over an alleged birth tourism scheme in Houston.
The legal action, led by Attorney General Ken Paxton, accuses the center of facilitating foreign women to travel to Texas with the primary purpose of giving birth in the United States. Under current law, babies born on U.S. soil receive birth citizenship.
According to the complaint, the company would have promoted its services primarily among Chinese women and would have operated for years a network of prenatal care, postpartum care, lodging, and guidance related to travel and immigration.
The complaint points to properties in Houston, Sugar Land, Richmond, and Rosenberg
According to the Texas Attorney General’s Office, De’Ai Postpartum Care Center would have operated at least four properties in the Houston area.
The locations cited in the complaint are in Sugar Land, Houston, Richmond, and Rosenberg. The Houston property is listed on Clarewood Drive, while the other addresses are in residential areas of Fort Bend County and its surroundings.
The state contends that these properties were used to house several families at the same time. The complaint also accuses the center of facilitating multiple births as part of an organized commercial operation.
State authorities say the center advertised itself as a provider of services related to prenatal care, postpartum care, nursing, medical care, and support in immigration or travel processes.
The state accuses immigration guidance to avoid visa review
The complaint contends that the center allegedly instructed potential clients on how to handle the immigration process to enter the United States.
Among the accusations is that the company would have recommended applying for tourist visas before pregnancy to reduce the risk of further review. The state also alleges that the clients received guidance to hide that the main purpose of the trip was to give birth in the United States.
The Attorney General states that using tourist visas for that purpose is not permitted under federal rules. The complaint describes the operation as a commercial scheme which, according to the state, would have violated Texas laws and regulations related to government documents.
The case also mentions digital platforms and social networks used to promote the services among potential clients in China. According to the information presented by the state, the center would have used websites, forums, and apps to attract women interested in giving birth in the United States.
The company allegedly promoted more than 1,000 births and babies born in the United States
The complaint accuses De’Ai Postpartum Care Center of boasting its connection to more than 1,000 babies born in the United States.
That figure appears as part of the state’s arguments to describe the size of the operation. The Attorney General maintains that the center did not operate as an isolated service, but as a structure with promotion, lodging, guidance, and coordinated care for foreign clients.
The legal document also identifies Lin Suling and Lai Wan Lin-Chan as people linked to the center’s operation. The state states that it did not find professional records under certain names associated with medical or nursing services mentioned in the case.
The complaint includes charges under the Texas Penal Code and the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act. The charges do not amount to a judicial determination, and the case will advance in court.
The case arrives amid the national debate on birth citizenship
The complaint is filed as the national debate over birth citizenship in the United States continues.
Birth citizenship, protected under the current interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment, allows a person born on U.S. soil to be recognized as a citizen. That legal framework has been the subject of renewed political and judicial disputes during the current federal administration.
The state uses that debate as part of the legal context for its lawsuit. The Attorney General contends that operations like the one alleged exploit that constitutional protection through organized trips for the purpose of childbirth.
The case also touches on a recurring concern in Texas: the relationship between private services, immigration, advertising aimed at foreigners, and compliance with state regulations. In this lawsuit, the state does not target a hospital, but a private company that allegedly offered lodging and services around pregnancy and birth.
Texas seeks to shut down the birth tourism operation and impose civil penalties
The Texas Attorney General’s Office requested a court order to halt the operations of De’Ai Postpartum Care Center.
The state also seeks civil penalties, legal fees, and other measures related to the alleged violations. Among the possible fines mentioned in the case materials is a penalty of up to $10,000 per violation.
The complaint accuses the center of deceptive trade practices, alteration or improper use of government records, harboring or sheltering illegal activity, and other charges under state laws.
The properties mentioned in the case are located in residential areas of the Houston metro area. The lawsuit will continue in Fort Bend County, where the state filed the legal action against the center and the individuals identified as operators.
