China's Billionaires Secretly Building Families in the US Through Surrogacy

A growing trend of Chinese billionaires using surrogates in the US has raised alarm among authorities and sparked debate about citizenship and human trafficking. According to an investigation by The Wall Street Journal, some Chinese billionaires are fathering multiple children through surrogacy in the US, with one estimated to have over 100 children born in the country. A California family court recently denied a Chinese billionaire's request for parental rights to several unborn children, highlighting the largely unregulated US surrogacy industry. The practice involves wealthy Chinese parents hiring US surrogates, often with the help of American agencies and law firms, to have children born in the US. Under US law, babies born through surrogacy are automatically granted citizenship, which has raised concerns about foreign nationals exploiting the system. The State Department has tightened visa rules for women suspected of giving birth in the US to obtain citizenship, and a recent executive order aims to deny citizenship to children born in the US unless one parent is a citizen or permanent resident. Some Chinese parents have even hired US models and others as egg donors to have multiple children, with the aim of marrying them off to powerful men. A surrogacy agency owner in California revealed he had helped fill an order for a Chinese parent seeking 100 children in the past few years. The use of surrogacy in the US by foreign nationals has become a lucrative business, with costs reaching up to $200,000 per child. American investors, including Peter Thiel, are betting on the continued growth of this industry. However, law enforcement is taking a closer look at some Chinese parents working with American surrogates, and a federal human trafficking investigation is ongoing into a Chinese-American couple with multiple children born through surrogacy. The lack of oversight in the industry makes it difficult to track whether parents are working with multiple surrogates, and public awareness is limited due to the private nature of US court proceedings. In China, surrogacy is illegal, but officials have criticized citizens for going overseas for surrogacy, viewing it as exploitative and violating Chinese public order and morals.