--- description: The crackdown marked the first large-scale federal probe of birth-tourism in the U.S. title: Feds Raid California 'Maternity Hotels' for Birth Tourists image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt62c44dd92f28e6c2/698782015f570f7199b1590b/rtr4rxsn-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Feds Raid California 'Maternity Hotels' for Birth Tourists by [NBC News](/author/nbc-news/) ## NBC News Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 3, 2015 11:01 PM CUT  Federal agents walk past the Carlyle Apartments, the location of a suspected "baby tourism operation," in Irvine, Calif. on March 3, 2015. Federal agents walk past the Carlyle Apartments, the location of a suspected "baby tourism operation," in Irvine, Calif. on March 3, 2015.Bob Riha Jr.—Reuters by [NBC News](/author/nbc-news/) ## NBC News Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 3, 2015 11:01 PM CUT Southern California apartment complexes that doubled as “maternity hotels” for Chinese women who want made-in-America babies were raided early Tuesday, capping an unprecedented federal sting operation, officials said. NBC News was on the scene as Homeland Security agents swept into The Carlyle, a luxury property in Irvine, California, which housed pregnant women and new moms who allegedly forked over $40,000 to $80,000 to give birth in the United States. “I am doing this for the education of the next generation,” one of the women told NBC News. None of the women were arrested; they are being treated as material witnesses, and paramedics… [Read the rest of the story from our partners at NBC News](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/feds-raid-california-maternity-hotels-birth-tourists-n315996?cid=par-time-article%5F20141002 "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3730987/maternity-hotel-raids/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3730987/maternity-hotel-raids/"},"headline":"Feds Raid California 'Maternity Hotels' for Birth Tourists","datePublished":"2015-03-03T23:01:45.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T04:53:24.709Z","description":"The crackdown marked the first large-scale federal probe of birth-tourism in the U.S.","url":"https://time.com/3730987/maternity-hotel-raids/","keywords":["California","Crime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt62c44dd92f28e6c2/698782015f570f7199b1590b/rtr4rxsn-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"NBC News","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/nbc-news/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt62c44dd92f28e6c2/698782015f570f7199b1590b/rtr4rxsn-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Federal agents walk past the Carlyle Apartments, the location of a suspected \"baby tourism operation,\" in Irvine, Calif. on March 3, 2015.","caption":"Federal agents walk past the Carlyle Apartments, the location of a suspected \"baby tourism operation,\" in Irvine, Calif. on March 3, 2015.","creditText":"Bob Riha Jr.—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3730987/maternity-hotel-raids/","name":"Feds Raid California 'Maternity Hotels' for Birth Tourists"}}]}] ```