Column: Chinese birth tourism documentary pulls back the curtain on a controversial industry

In 2013 I reported on a predawn federal immigration raid at a Rowland Heights townhome complex that challenged the way I thought about journalism.

The raid was part of a local crackdown on Chinese birthing hotels, businesses that host pregnant mothers who want to give birth to American babies. I interviewed scared, confused women as broadcast TV cameras captured federal agents searching their apartments and suitcases. None of the women, most of them sheltered and in their early 20s, understood what was happening, and some asked me, the only Chinese-speaking person around.

Federal law forbids entering the country under false pretenses, but giving birth in another country is not a crime. Who was I holding accountable? Were the women the perpetrators or the victims, or something in between?

A new documentary streaming on PBS, called “How to Have an American Baby,” wrestles with that question. Filmmaker Leslie Tai embedded with a group of Chinese mothers for more than a decade as…