(CNN) Three people were arrested on charges of running "birth tourism" companies that catered to Chinese clients in Southern California Thursday. "Birth tourists" travel to foreign countries to give birth, so that their children acquire the citizenship of that country. In the US, the legal principle of jus soli automatically confers citizenship upon babies born on US soil. Other countries, including Switzerland and Japan , do not grant citizenship automatically unless one or more parents are also citizens. All were charged "conspiracy to commit immigration fraud, international money laundering and identity theft," according to the DOJ statement.

Source: CNN February 01, 2019 03:46 UTC