Staff Reports
At a House Oversight task‑force hearing, Dr. Wladimir Lorentz — the founder of the Miami birth‑tourism service “Have My Baby in Miami” — appeared under subpoena and promptly invoked the Fifth Amendment. That one move stopped the committee from getting on‑the‑record answers from the central figure at the center of an industry the task force says helps foreigners come here to give birth and claim American citizenship for their newborns.
What happened in the hearing
Representative Brandon Gill called the hearing to expose what he calls a commercialized “birth tourism” industry. The committee had subpoenaed Lorentz after document requests and unanswered questions. When asked to testify, Lorentz said on the record that, on advice of counsel and because of a pending federal probe, he would decline to answer questions that might incriminate him. That is a constitutional right — the Fifth Amendment — but in practical terms it left the committee with no testimony from the man Republicans say runs a business built on exploiting our laws.
Why this matters to taxpayers and national security
The hearing did not end with Lorentz’s silence. Dr. Steven Camarota of the Center for Immigration Studies presented data suggesting thousands of births tied to foreign addresses and estimates of a much larger problem. Republicans warned the practice creates fiscal burdens and potential national‑security risks, and pointed fingers at countries like China and Russia as major sources of visitors. Democrats opposed the hearing, with Representative Ayanna Pressley calling it an “assault” — which is rich, given the committee is simply trying to ask questions about a business that sells American citizenship. Meanwhile, Americans keep paying hospital bills and absorbing the costs tied to these births.
What comes next: contempt votes and the role of prosecutors
When a subpoenaed witness pleads the Fifth, the committee has tools: civil enforcement in federal court or a contempt referral to the full House that can be sent to prosecutors. But the Department of Justice has broad discretion, and past history shows prosecutions are not guaranteed. Reports indicate Lorentz’s lawyer cited a pending federal investigation in Southern Florida — which may explain the Fifth — but it also raises the question: will prosecutors follow through, or will the invocation be treated like a pause button on accountability?
Representative Gill did the right thing by issuing a subpoena and pressing for answers. The witness’s choice to plead the Fifth is legally permissible, but it doesn’t make the underlying business any less problematic. Congress should keep pushing — pursue contempt if necessary, press the U.S. Attorney’s Office for clarity, and move on legislation to close the loopholes that let birth‑tourism companies advertise U.S. citizenship for sale. If you’re running a business called “Have My Baby in Miami,” invoking the Fifth live on camera is not the PR win you hoped for. It’s time to stop treating American citizenship like a tourist souvenir.
