City to Hire Detective to Regulate 'Maternity Homes' Full-Time

The city will hire a detective devoted to investigating Arcadia's maternity homes full-time, as complaints regarding such facilities have increased sharply in recent months.

The Arcadia Police Department will begin the hiring process in April, and the detective is expected to cost the city an estimated $120,000 per year, Assistant City Manager Jason Kruckeberg said.

Entering the U.S. on a tourist visa to have a baby, who would automatically be granted American citizenship, is not illegal. There are no federal or state laws regulating the practice, leaving municipalities like Arcadia to control maternity homes through zoning, building, safety and business ordinances.

Still, Arcadia Police Chief Robert Guthrie says he suspects the operators of these facilities may be evading taxes, committing fraud or breaking other laws. Experts say women pay upwards of $25,000 to so-called birth tourism agencies, who arrange for travel, medical care, housing, passports and visas. 

"You start to follow the money," Guthrie said.

Maternity homes have become "a much bigger" problem than anyone foresaw, and police "have an obligation to find out" whether the facilities are violating any laws, he added.

Kruckeberg said the city — thanks to the work of a task force created in late 2011 — has shutdown five or six maternity homes in the past year. However, merely slapping the operators of the homes with fines for zoning ordinance violations rarely works.

"They just pay the fees and continue operating," City Manager Dominic Lazzaretto said.

Mayor Bob Harbicht said he wants to take advantage "of every resource available" to address the problem of maternity homes in Arcadia.

"I understand our limits," Habicht said, "but I'm not happy to say, 'Oh, well, this is a federal [immigration] issue so we're not going to anything about it.'"