(LifeSiteNews) — The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and Attorney General Pam Bondi must investigate the proliferation of Chinese-owned surrogacy labs throughout the country, according to Republican U.S. Sens. Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Rick Scott of Florida.
Cotton and Scott sent a letter to the DOJ asking for an investigation into “surrogacy centers operated by foreign nationals.”
“Alarming reports indicate that Chinese nationals are systematically exploiting America’s surrogacy and birthright citizenship laws,” the senators wrote on February 26.
The Wall Street Journal highlighted a particularly egregious example in December 2025. The newspaper profiled Xu Bo, a Chinese billionaire and video game company executive. Bo reportedly has 100 children in the United States he had created through surrogacy. A chilling video posted by the Journal shows dozens of toddlers running toward Bo, reportedly saying “Daddy.”
Cotton and Scott highlighted Bo’s example in their letter of concern, not just because of the bioethical issues but also national security problems. Under the current interpretation of federal law, all children born on American soil are American citizens, regardless of their parents’ citizenship. However, the Trump administration is currently challenging this interpretation, and a Supreme Court hearing is scheduled for April 1.
The senators wrote:
Recent reports have uncovered more than 107 Chinese-owned surrogacy agencies operating in Southern California alone. These agencies cater almost exclusively to wealthy Chinese clients, and some are affiliated with Chinese state-owned entities. Chinese nationals pay women living in the United States more than $50,000 to serve as surrogates. The children are born on United States soil and granted automatic citizenship. And in most cases, the infants are promptly flown to China and raised there under the direct influence of the Chinese Communist Party.
They appear to reference Bo, suggesting his goal is to “produc(e) male heirs who hold U.S. passports.”
Communist Chinese nationals shouldn’t be taking advantage of our surrogacy and birthright citizenship laws to access U.S. passports.@SenRickScott and I are urging @TheJusticeDept to investigate. pic.twitter.com/wHGVKmR6Or
— Tom Cotton (@SenTomCotton) February 26, 2026
As these children age, they can exploit their citizenship to harm America, the senators warned.
“These children will eventually be eligible to vote in American elections, access sensitive positions, or otherwise advance Beijing’s interests, all while owing their allegiance to the CCP,” Cotton and Scott wrote, referring to the Chinese Communist Party.
They suggested there could be a “long-term strategy” in play “to ideologically and systematically undermine the United States.”
The senators want to know about any potential federal laws that could be broken, how many surrogacy clinics are operated by foreign nationals, and specifically how many of those centers Chinese nationals control.
Ban commercial surrogacy, children’s rights advocate says
Surrogacy creates numerous ethical issues beyond the national security concerns raised by the Republican senators.
An advocate for the rights of children to be raised by their biological mother and father previously criticized the practice in comments to LifeSiteNews.
“When wealthy foreign nationals can shop for women’s wombs, contract for babies, and then use U.S. citizenship laws to their advantage, it’s a sign that the system is fundamentally broken,” Samantha DeLoach told LifeSiteNews via email. She is a spokeswoman for anti-surrogacy campaign group Them Before Us.
“At minimum, the U.S. should stop functioning as a surrogacy haven by banning or strictly limiting commercial surrogacy,” DeLoach said. “Surrogacy contracts treat pregnancy as a service and babies as products – something Them Before Us has consistently opposed because children are not commodities.”
LifeSiteNews had specifically asked DeLoach to comment last December on Xu Bo’s creation of children.
She also highlighted long-lasting effects on the children as well.
“Maternal-infant separation is a known physiological and psychological stressor,” she said. “Surrogacy requires this rupture by design, not by accident or tragedy.”
There are also other serious ethical concerns when children are created who are related to each other but do not know it.
“When clinics produce dozens (sometimes hundreds) of genetically related children, you end up with siblings who may never know one another, or worse, may unknowingly form relationships later in life,” she said. “That’s not a hypothetical concern – it’s already happening.”
