Chinese Woman Sentenced To 10 Months In Prison For Helping More Than 500 Pregnant Women Give Birth In The U.S. To Get Their Babies Citizenship

A Chinese woman has been sentenced to 10 months in prison for running a business that helped pregnant women in China get into America so their children could have American citizenship.

On Monday, U.S. District Judge James Selna sentenced Dongyuan Li to 10 months in prison for helping more than 500 women lie on visa forms and to immigration authorities in order to give birth in the States. Selna said he expected her to be released from custody later Monday due to time served, U.S. News reports. Federal prosecutors were against the sentence arguing the woman should be given more time to be seen as an example for others who are potentially committing the same crime as well as to prevent others from lying on visa applications. “I just think it sends the wrong message,” Charles Pell, the federal prosecutor, told the judge.

Li pleaded guilty in September to conspiracy and visa fraud for running a birth tourism company in Southern California known as “You Win USA.” Li assisted more than 500 women with traveling to the U.S. to deliver their babies. Li also used several apartments in Irvine, California to receive them in.

Li was arrested last year following a years-long investigation into birth tourism schemes that charged Chinese travelers tens of thousands of dollars to deliver their babies in Southern California, U.S. News reports. Authorities said Li was a birth tourism customer and later got involved in running the business.

Li, a mother of four, said in a letter to the court that she has taken English and music lessons and read books and exercised daily while in custody. “I am very sorry for the mistakes that I have made,” she wrote in the Dec. 1 letter filed with the court. “I truly sincerely apologize for any harm that I have caused to the American society.”