Two practices are allowing Chinese nationals to obtain U.S. citizenship for their children at scale: commercial surrogacy, conducted primarily in California, and birth tourism, in which pregnant women travel to the U.S. on tourist visas to deliver on American soil. Both exploit the 14th Amendment guarantee of citizenship to anyone born in the United States. Surrogacy is illegal in China, driving wealthy clients abroad, and California’s permissive surrogacy laws make it the preferred destination.
Federal prosecutors have brought cases against operators of both types of services, and Congress has introduced legislation targeting surrogacy contracts with nationals of adversarial countries. The practice has drawn national security attention because U.S.-born children of Chinese nationals retain citizenship rights for life, including the right to vote, hold federal employment, and sponsor family members for permanent residence.
California has some of the most permissive surrogacy laws in the world. Under California Family Code Sections 7960–7962, gestational surrogacy, where the surrogate has no genetic link to the child, is explicitly legal, enforceable, and compensated. Courts routinely issue pre-birth parentage orders establishing the intended parents’ rights, regardless of marital status, sexual orientation, or nationality. No U.S. residency or citizenship is required for intended parents.
Costs range from $150,000 to $250,000 per child, covering legal fees, medical care, and surrogate compensation, typically between $30,000 and $60,000. This contrasts with states like Michigan and New York, where commercial surrogacy is restricted or banned.
In compensated surrogacy, Chinese parents purchasing the child do not necessarily have to enter the United States. Foreign clients can ship genetic material to U.S. clinics while surrogates carry and deliver the babies in California hospitals. By contrast, in birth tourism, the biological mother travels from China to the United States during the third trimester on a tourist visa, gives birth in an American hospital, and then returns home with a U.S.-citizen child.
The birth-tourism industry offered far more than hospital access. Agencies sold full-service packages including visa assistance, airport pickup, housing, meals, doctor referrals, shopping trips, and documentation to return to China with the newborn. Many also provided Chinese maternity matrons who prepared traditional postpartum meals and supervised the customary 30-day recovery period.
Clients were typically wealthy professionals from major Chinese cities. One agency operator described customers as business owners, university teachers, and technology-sector employees with household incomes exceeding 2 million yuan, roughly $300,000. American physicians also became part of the system. One California obstetrician at Fountain Valley Regional Hospital said a birth-tourism agent initially asked if he would accept Chinese patients. Referrals eventually grew until 60 to 70 percent of his caseload consisted of Chinese nationals, and he estimated delivering more than 1,000 babies for Chinese clients, sometimes eight in a single day. Prenatal records prepared in Chinese were translated and incorporated into U.S. medical care.
The operations could be large-scale. One agency owner maintained more than 15 properties in Los Angeles and San Francisco, employed about 40 staff in China and 30 in the United States, including drivers, cooks, and maternity caregivers, and handled between 600 and 1,000 pregnant clients each year.
Operators often directed clients to fly into Las Vegas or Hawaii rather than Los Angeles because CBP screening was viewed as easier. Women were coached to wear loose clothing to conceal pregnancies and instructed on what to say during U.S. consulate interviews. Federal prosecutions have also cited money laundering and fraudulent applications for indigent hospital rates.
Obama created a loophole for birth tourism in U.S. territories. Under the Obama-era Guam–CNMI Visa Waiver Program, Chinese nationals could enter the Northern Mariana Islands without a visa. In some years, births to Chinese nationals in Saipan exceeded those of local residents.
Chinese nationals have been the dominant client group for both pathways. Surrogacy is illegal in China under a 2001 Ministry of Health ban, forcing wealthy individuals abroad. U.S. citizenship provides future education access, visa-free international travel, and long-term immigration options. Once a child turns 21, the entire family can apply for a green card through a family-based immigration petition. Surrogacy agencies have marketed this arrangement as a cheaper alternative to the EB-5 investor visa. Some parents cite concerns over China’s environmental problems, competitive education system, and political uncertainty. The documented surge sometimes called the “Run” or Runxue movement reflects wealthy Chinese families seeking exit options.
A 2024 study published in Fertility and Sterility, drawing on CDC-collected data from 2014–2020, found that Chinese nationals accounted for 41.7 percent of all international commercial surrogacy contracts in the United States, and 75 percent of those contracts took place in California. A separate Emory University study found international surrogacy quadrupled from 2014 to 2019. According to a congressional report, as many as 1.5 million Chinese babies may have been born in the United States over the last thirteen years and are being raised in China. Senators Tom Cotton and Rick Scott have cited reports of more than 107 Chinese-owned surrogacy agencies operating in Southern California alone, some allegedly affiliated with Chinese state-owned entities.
Los Angeles family court clerks first noticed an unusual pattern in 2023 when the same name appeared repeatedly on surrogacy petitions before Judge Amy Pellman. The best-documented case involves Xu Bo, a Chinese videogame billionaire who sought parental rights to more than 20 unborn children, stating via video from China that he hoped to father roughly that number of children, specifically boys, to inherit his business empire. His company later confirmed he had commissioned “only a little over 100” children through U.S. surrogates, most of whom he has never met. Judge Pellman denied him parental rights in 2023, concluding the arrangement resembled a production line rather than family building.
A second case involves Guojun Xuan and Silvia Zhang, a CCP-linked couple who had more than 26 children via surrogates in Arcadia, California. In 2025, authorities raided their home in Arcadia after their two-month-old infant was hospitalized with injuries suspected to be caused by abuse. Authorities removed 21 mostly surrogate-born children.
The couple had arranged surrogacies across multiple states and are now engaged in a legal battle to regain custody of the children. At the same time, some surrogates claim they were misled about the number of babies the couple intended to have. Surrogates say they were recruited through agencies tied to the couple and believed they were helping a family have one or two children, not dozens.
Xuan allegedly stated a goal of having a child become U.S. president, with some of the children reportedly named after American politicians. Authorities and federal investigators are examining possible abuse, fraud, and broader concerns about international surrogacy networks, while lawmakers warn the case could highlight risks of child trafficking linked to foreign surrogacy arrangements.
A third case involves Wang Huiwu, an education executive who used American models as egg donors for ten daughters, describing plans to form alliances with powerful families through strategic marriages.
The federal government has since moved to tighten enforcement. A 2020 State Department rule barred B visas for the primary purpose of birth tourism. In January 2026, a new USCIS policy memorandum directed officials to re-review visa holders from high-risk countries for signs of birth-tourism fraud. President Trump’s January 2025 executive order sought to end birthright citizenship for children of non-citizens and non-permanent residents, a measure now under Supreme Court review.
Congress has also proposed restrictions. Senator Rick Scott introduced the SAFE Kids Act, which would void surrogacy contracts involving nationals of adversarial countries and impose penalties on brokers facilitating them. In February 2026, Senators Tom Cotton and Rick Scott asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to open a Justice Department investigation into surrogacy centers run by foreign nationals.
At the state level, Florida’s House passed the Foreign Interference Restriction and Enforcement (FIRE) Act in March 2026, banning surrogacy and pre-planned adoption contracts involving citizens of countries of concern, including China, Russia, and Iran. California moved in the opposite direction. Senate Bill 729 took effect on January 1, 2026, expanding insurance coverage for surrogacy and IVF. Meanwhile, the One Nation, One Visa Policy Act was introduced to close the visa-free entry loophole for Chinese nationals entering U.S. territories such as Saipan.
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