Los Angeles Times: Nie had arrived in Orange County after she and Hong shopped online for the best place to have a baby in the United States, said their attorney, Neil Howard.
The practice of pregnant women traveling to the United States, usually on tourist visas, so their children will be born U.S. citizens is sometimes called maternity tourism. In Southern California, such women often live with other expectant mothers in suburban homes while waiting to deliver.
It’s particularly popular with wealthy women from China.
Many agencies openly advertise services offering assistance in getting newborns a U.S. passport and extolling the benefits that come with American citizenship, including public education and immigration benefits for parents. It is illegal for tourists to lie about their reason for visiting the U.S.
Lie and Hong were high school sweethearts, Howard said. Hong is an architect and Lie was an executive for a large developer. A friend of the family referred them to Liu, he said. They were staying in Irvine when Lie went in for a scheduled C-section.
But after the procedure on March 9, 2014, Nie suffered complications.
