Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is taking legal action against a Houston-area operation accused of exploiting American birthright citizenship in a scheme that allegedly helped over 1,000 Chinese nationals game the immigration system over nearly two decades.
Story Snapshot
- Texas AG files lawsuit against De’Ai Postpartum Care Center for alleged birth tourism scheme spanning 20 years
- Operation allegedly coached Chinese nationals on visa fraud to conceal pregnancy and birth intent from U.S. authorities
- Center falsely advertised medical services without licensed staff across four Houston-area properties
- State seeks over $1 million in penalties and permanent shutdown of what Paxton calls a national security threat
Two Decades of Alleged Citizenship Fraud
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit on April 29, 2026, in Fort Bend district court against De’Ai Postpartum Care Center and its operators, Lin Suling and Lai Wan Lin-Chan. The legal action accuses the Houston-area business of running an illegal birth tourism operation that facilitated over 1,000 births to Chinese nationals seeking U.S. citizenship for their children. According to court filings, the center operated for nearly 20 years across multiple properties in Sugar Land, Houston, Richmond, and Rosenberg, housing multiple families simultaneously while promoting services through Chinese social media platforms including TikTok, WeChat, and Facebook.
Coaching Clients to Deceive Immigration Authorities
The lawsuit alleges the center provided detailed coaching to Chinese nationals on how to evade visa scrutiny and conceal their true purpose for entering the United States. According to the complaint, operators instructed expectant mothers to apply for tourist visas before becoming pregnant, then time their travel to occur after visa approval but before pregnancy would be detectable. This deliberate strategy allegedly violated Texas Penal Code provisions and the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act by facilitating visa misrepresentation. The operation capitalized on the 14th Amendment’s birthright citizenship provision, which grants automatic citizenship to children born on U.S. soil regardless of their parents’ immigration status.
False Medical Claims and Unlicensed Operations
Investigators from the Texas Attorney General’s office discovered the center falsely advertised 24-hour nursing care and claimed connections to Woman’s Hospital of Texas despite operating without licensed medical staff. Searches of Texas nursing and medical boards revealed no licensed personnel associated with the operation, raising serious questions about the quality and legality of care provided to vulnerable mothers and newborns. The lawsuit characterizes these properties as a public nuisance, alleging the center put both clients and surrounding communities at risk through its illegal and deceptive practices.
Paxton Calls Operation a National Security Threat
Attorney General Paxton issued a strong statement condemning the practice, declaring that “birthright citizenship is a scam that threatens national security” and vowing to “do everything in my power to stop unlawful birth tourism schemes.” His office described the operation as “illegal, dangerous, and dishonest,” seeking a permanent injunction to shut down the business along with civil penalties exceeding one million dollars. The lawsuit comes as federal authorities have increased scrutiny of birth tourism operations nationwide, with the defendants themselves acknowledging this heightened attention in a recent TikTok video posted just days before the legal action.
Texas Attorney General Sues Chinese ‘Birth Tourism’ Centerhttps://t.co/9fx7fIGWZX
— PJ Media (@PJMedia_com) April 29, 2026
This case highlights a growing tension between state enforcement priorities and federal immigration policy, as Texas continues to take aggressive action against what officials view as exploitation of American citizenship laws. The precedent set by this lawsuit could signal a broader crackdown on the birth tourism industry, which has operated largely in legal gray areas for years. As the case proceeds through Fort Bend district court, it raises fundamental questions about citizenship, immigration enforcement, and whether state governments can effectively combat practices that many Americans across the political spectrum increasingly view as abuse of a system meant to protect genuine immigrants seeking the American Dream through legitimate means.
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Texas AG Ken Paxton files lawsuit against Houston ‘birth tourism’ center
Paxton accuses Houston-area business of running birth tourism scheme
