Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has shut down a Houston-area operation accused of turning American citizenship into a commercial service for foreign nationals.

The legal victory requires De’Ai Postpartum Care Center to cease operations and stop facilitating births after state officials alleged that the business helped Chinese clients navigate around federal immigration rules.

The number attached to the case is staggering.

According to Paxton’s office, the center claimed responsibility for more than 1,000 American-born babies.

Paxton announced the shutdown Friday:

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FOX 26 Houston reports that the resolution ends the operation after Texas sued in April. The center allegedly ran through at least four properties in Sugar Land, Houston, Richmond and Rosenberg, sometimes housing multiple families at one location while arranging as many as 20 births in a day.

State investigators said the business marketed its services through Chinese-language social media platforms and websites. The operation allegedly coached clients on how to obtain visas, conceal that their principal reason for traveling was to give birth and avoid scrutiny from federal immigration officials.

The center even advised women to apply for visas before becoming pregnant, according to the state’s case.

Local reporting showed the scope of the shutdown and the four-location footprint:

The Texas Attorney General’s Office said when it filed the case that De’Ai had operated for nearly two decades and openly promoted its role in producing “1,000+ American-born babies.” The lawsuit accused the company and its operators of deceptive trade practices, tampering with government records, unlawful harboring and concealment, and other violations of Texas law.

Those were civil allegations when the case was filed, not criminal convictions. Friday’s announcement concerns the legal resolution that stops the business from continuing the conduct challenged by Texas.

That distinction matters, but it does not make the alleged scheme any less outrageous.

American citizenship is not a hotel amenity, a maternity package or a loophole to be marketed overseas. It carries rights, duties and a permanent national bond that generations of citizens have fought to preserve.

When a business teaches foreign clients how to conceal the true purpose of their travel, the issue is no longer ordinary medical tourism. It becomes an organized effort to defeat immigration screening for profit.

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KTSA reports that the settlement requires the center to stop operating and facilitating births for foreign nationals. Paxton accused the business of helping clients navigate immigration requirements while marketing primarily to Chinese nationals.

The station’s report places the shutdown after the state’s April lawsuit and identifies four Houston-area properties tied to the operation. State officials said the center used Chinese-language social media and websites to reach clients.

Texas alleged that workers advised women to seek visas before becoming pregnant and conceal their plans from immigration authorities. The business also advertised help with prenatal care, delivery and postpartum lodging.

The local report reinforces the central result: a court-backed resolution now bars the center from continuing the operation Texas challenged. FOX 26 summarized that outcome in its current report:

The case lands in the middle of a much larger national fight.

President Trump has challenged the modern interpretation of automatic birthright citizenship, arguing that the Fourteenth Amendment was never meant to reward illegal entry or short-term travel arranged solely to secure citizenship for a child.

The courts have placed limits on that effort, but this Texas case shows that states still have tools to attack the machinery surrounding birth tourism. Fraud, deceptive business practices, false records, unlawful harboring and unlicensed medical claims do not become untouchable simply because a newborn’s citizenship may be recognized under current law.

Texas officials have widened the crackdown beyond this one center.

Governor Greg Abbott directed state health authorities to investigate birth-tourism packages advertised by hospitals to foreign nationals. Paxton’s office has also investigated South Texas hospitals after Spanish-language billboards promoted fixed-price childbirth packages to expectant mothers in Mexico.

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The message is finally getting sharper: Texas will not sit quietly while businesses build a revenue model around gaming America’s immigration and citizenship systems.

There is also a national-security dimension. A passport obtained through a commercial scheme can create long-term access and legal privileges that reach far beyond one hospital stay.

That is precisely why visa applications ask travelers to disclose their true plans and why organized coaching to defeat those questions deserves serious scrutiny.

Paxton moved beyond warnings and investigations.

He took the case to court and forced the operation to close.

For more than 1,000 births, according to the center’s own boast, the business treated American citizenship like a product.

Texas just took that product off the market.

 

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