In the modern world, the practice of generic tourism is gaining more and more popularity. Its essence is moving to another country for the further birth of a child and acquiring citizenship in it. This right in the United States of America is given on the basis of the right of birth or jus soli on the territory of the country. Hence the concept of an “anchor child”, since he or she becomes a tool for his or her walkers to acquire a permanent place of residence. However, with the spread of this phenomenon, many problems have arisen. An example of such an issue was a case that happened in a Chinese ancestral home in Flushing, Queens. A woman from China stabbed five people. This research paper aims to examine this case and its circumstances in order to gain knowledge about how this problem can be prevented in the future.
First of all, it is necessary to understand the phenomenon of generic tourism. Foreigners resort to this action often to find a better life and in the desire to follow the American dream. In this case, children born to all persons living in the United States automatically receive American citizenship (Rodriguez 3). Another reason is the desire to provide better education to descendants, as well as health care and other services provided to society by the state (Jaramillo et al. 96). If the research considers the legislation of China, many foreigners want to circumvent the two-child policy. These reasons are the main driving forces for residents of other countries.
This study deals with a specific example of what happened in the ancestral home in Queens. It happened recently and received a lot of coverage by the American media. Henceforth, in a boarding house for Chinese “child tourists” in the city of Flushing, in September 2018, one of the workers committed a brutal crime (Moore et al. para 2). A woman stabbed three newborns and two adults before trying to commit suicide. The incident occurred in the early morning at an institution that provides assistance in caring for the children of immigrants who were born in America and were sold for thousands of dollars. A woman named Yu Fen Wang suffered a nervous breakdown and attacked an elderly colleague and a man. The injured man was the father of one of the children who were in the house. After that, the woman attacked three babies and ran into the basement of the building to commit suicide, but she did not succeed. The reason for this strange behavior was the presence of a psychological disorder in the employee of the ancestral home. Thanks to the quick work of medical specialists, all the victims were rescued, but one of the wounded was very seriously injured.
After getting to the hospital, a psychological examination was carried out on the criminal, which showed that the woman had mental health problems. The place where these traumatic events occurred is a registered state enterprise called Mei Xin Care Inc. However, employees secretly provided citizenship services for foreigners, known as birth tourism. On the basis of a tourist visa, pregnant Chinese women came to the United States to give birth to a child in order to obtain citizenship of the country. Newborns in America have this right in accordance with the 14th Amendment and have a few weeks to get all the necessary documents. This procedure is aimed at a long-term perspective since adult children can then apply for the return of the parents and their receipt of a green card. Such manipulations of generic tourism are gaining more and more popularity due to their relative simplicity, compared with other methods of obtaining permanent residence.
After conducting an audit, the US Department of Children and Families Affairs determined that the facility in Flushing is not a licensed care program. The main reason for this was that the organization violated the law, which prohibits the provision of services for the care of newborns up to six weeks babies. Moreover, in addition to illegal activities, the organization placed false advertising on the Internet as a licensed daycare facility. At the same time, the maternity tourism institution charged the parents who resorted to their services (Laudick 281). One woman said that she laid out 4,600 dollars to stay in the institution for a month (Moore et al. para 15). This fact proves that families resorting to this practice have specific resources to purchase generic tourism as a way to settle in the United States.
Therefore, after analyzing this case, it can be concluded that it is necessary to take a number of measures to ensure the safety of children in such institutions and conduct more frequent inspections. It is worth noting that the practice of coming to the United States and other countries to obtain citizenship is not illegal. However, sources note that a tightening in the direction of the country’s immigration policy is required. Krikorian, the owner of such facility in Washington, DC, stated that “as for whether the facility itself is legal or not, it is more of a municipal or state issue and if it is illegal, it is probably not because it is a citizenship center or maternity hospital” (Moore et al. para 15). However, in the case of Flushing, this circumstance may be somewhat complicated. This is due to the fact that for a long time, the only complaints that were received at this address were the crying of children and no more.
At the same time, there is still a need to apply measures to check ancestral homes and organizations for the care of minors, especially for the availability of a license and the psychological state of people who work there. Based on the results of such a study, an organization can obtain data on how easily and quickly employees can provide the services required from them. The most critical aspect is the ability of people to withstand pressure and various difficult situations that arise when working with pregnant women and children. Thus, this work investigated a case of abuse of minors that occurred in the city of Flushing in the United States of America. Hence, a woman in the background of a psychological disorder tried to stab two adults and three babies. Upon further investigation, it turned out that the institution in Flushing was engaged in illegal undercover activities and provided child care services for up to six weeks, which is contrary to US law. Further, it is necessary not only to regulate the immigration policy in the country but also to constantly check the license and legality of the activities of institutions that provide assistance in caring for children.
Works Cited
Jaramillo, Juanita, et al. “Birth tourism among Chinese women.” MCN: The American Journal of Maternal/Child Nursing, vol. 44, no. 2, 2019, pp. 94-99.
Laudick, Nicole Marie. “Book a stay and win U.S. citizenship: Examining birth tourism as a business subject to federal regulatory controls.” University of Georgia School of Law, vol. 48, no. 273, 2020, pp. 273-291.
Moore, Tina et al. “Crazy lady goes on stabbing spree at illegal NYC day care.” New York Post, Web.
Rodriguez, Cassaundra. “Chinese maternity tourists and their “anchor babies”? Disdain and racialized conditional acceptance of non-citizen reproduction.” Marginalized Mothers, Mothering from the Margins. Emerald Publishing Limited, 2018.