Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Friday the permanent shutdown of a Houston-area birth tourism operation known as De’Ai Postpartum Care Center. The center and its operators agreed to cease all operations under a proposed final judgment and permanent injunction filed in Fort Bend County District Court.

Paxton filed suit against the center and its owners in April, alleging violations of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act and other state laws. The operation had run for nearly two decades and marketed its services primarily to Chinese clients through popular Chinese social media platforms and websites. Court documents state the center bragged about being responsible for more than 1,000 American-born babies.

Investigators found the center operated across at least four properties in Sugar Land, Houston, Richmond, and Rosenberg. These locations typically hosted multiple families at once and could facilitate up to 20 births per day. Operators coached clients on how to conceal their true purpose when applying for U.S. visas, which are prohibited for birth tourism.

The shutdown comes just one day after Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) introduced the American Citizenship Integrity Act, which would treat the recruitment, transport, or harboring of noncitizens for the purpose of obtaining U.S. citizenship through birth as trafficking. Mace has taken a leading role in scrutinizing birth tourism at the federal level. Her legislation proposes criminal penalties of up to 15 years in prison per offense and up to 30 years for criminal organizations, along with the creation of an interagency task force to dismantle such networks.

Paxton said the center’s activities involved shielding and facilitating violations of immigration law. The settlement requires the business to stop providing obstetric, gynecological, and related immigration services. It also ends the practice of coaching foreign nationals on evading federal rules to enter the country for childbirth.

The case highlights ongoing state efforts to address birth tourism schemes that exploit U.S. citizenship rules. Paxton has described such operations as threats that undermine national security and immigration enforcement.