Overview
- Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a civil suit Wednesday in Fort Bend County against De’Ai Postpartum Care Center and two operators, seeking to halt what he calls an illegal birth tourism operation.
- The complaint says the business marketed on TikTok, WeChat, Facebook and more, and coached clients on tourist visas, including advising women to apply before pregnancy to avoid detection.
- State lawyers allege four houses in Houston, Sugar Land, Richmond and Rosenberg hosted multiple families at once and touted more than 1,000 U.S.-born babies over two decades, with capacity up to 20 births a day.
- Paxton accuses the center of false advertising by claiming 24-hour care from experienced nurses and a link to Woman’s Hospital of Texas, while state board searches did not find licenses for named caregivers; defendants did not offer an immediate response when contacted.
- The state cites the Texas Penal Code and the Deceptive Trade Practices Act and asks for an injunction and monetary penalties, a move Paxton frames as birthright citizenship faces a Supreme Court test.