Long Island had a birth tourism operation in 2020 that had been operating for 3 years. If not for a diligent employee in Smithtown, it would still be going on. Over 100 pregnant women from Turkey came to the U.S. to give birth to babies to ensure the babies received their U.S. citizenship.
Medicaid is going bankrupt, and while these mothers were here, they pilfered from it. Medicaid is only for elderly and handicapped Americans.
The Story
In December 2020, a birth tourism ring was busted on Long Island. Prosecutors on the case revealed that over 100 pregnant women from Turkey came to the U.S. to give birth to babies to ensure they left with U.S. citizenship.
Along with ensuring their children had citizenship, the women also took full advantage of the Medicaid system, pilfering millions of taxpayer dollars in the process.
An employee in Smithtown helped expose the scheme by pointing to birth certificates where five babies from one household were born at the same time. A probe ensued, uncovering an international fraud scheme. It uncovered the birth tourism scheme on Long Island.
Eastern District Acting U.S. Attorney Seth DuCharme stated that “the defendants fraudulently facilitated the births in the United States of approximately 119 Turkish children, and those children now hold birthright U.S. citizenship.”
Turkey advertised the scheme with ads noting that “If you believe your baby should be born in the USA and become an American citizen, you are in the right place.”
It is illegal to lie to obtain travel visas and fraudulent Medicaid claims for babies and mothers. The women stayed at seven birth houses located across Suffolk County. Prosecutors say these women paid up to $10,000 each for accommodations and free health care provided by U.S. taxpayers.
“They are doing it on the backs of taxpayers. They’re milking the Medicaid system,” Suffolk County District Attorney Tim Sini went on to say. Six people were arrested and charged with money laundering in connection with a $2 million Medicaid fraud scheme.
The mothers were not charged, and their babies remain citizens while they live in Turkey.
Now multiply this by all the many jurisdictions in our fifty states and multiply it by all the countries that engage in birth tourism and possibly Medicaid schemes. It needs to be stopped, and some of these babies need to lose their citizenship.
2020. Turkish anchor baby ring found operating in Long Island, NY — mothers got taxpayer funded healthcare.
This is insane:
“Prosecutors say more than 100 pregnant women from Turkey came here to give birth, so their children were instantly granted U.S. citizenship.”… https://t.co/mjxyihjeO2 pic.twitter.com/QcWl50rEXd
— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) April 2, 2026