A Taiwanese mother who gave birth in the middle of a flight en-route to Los Angeles from Taiwan is now finding herself in some major trouble. According to Mashable, U.S. border patrol has seized her child and deported the woman who goes by the surname Jian. To boot she may be facing some heavy charges for the in-flight fiasco.01
Jian went into labor mid-flight - lucky for her a Los Angeles-based doctor was on-board to deliver the bouncing baby girl, using the stewardesses as nurses. The captain rerouted the flight to an airport in Anchorage, Alaska. The baby was said to be delivered within 30 minutes of reaching U.S. soil, begging the question of whether the baby would receive U.S. citizenship.
The U.S government states any persons born on planes within 12 miles of the United States' territorial waters are eligible for U.S. citizenship at birth.
One member of the crew believes Jian used her baby as a means to getting access to the United States. A flight-attendant named Lucienne Chen took to her Facebook, cites The Shanghaiist. Chen reported Jian did not tell the airline she was pregnant - "failing to inform the airline that she was 36 weeks pregnant (Taiwanese law prohibits pregnant women to fly after 32 weeks without a doctor's approval)."
Yikes! "[She] has been lying since the day she bought a ticket, she did not tell the ticket agent that she was pregnant!" Chen wrote. "She wore wide and loose clothes to deliberately hide [her condition]."
Chen went on to say Jian tried to delay giving birth. Once her water broke she refused to lie down and repeatedly asked when they were close to the U.S.
The Shanghaiist reported the detour from Los Angeles to Anchorage cost China Airlines thousands of dollars and it looks like the new mother will probably be held responsible for the detour fees incurred.
"Compensation (to the airline) will likely be inevitable," said Taiwan's Transportation Minister, Chen Jian-yu.
According to a passenger Amira Rajput, once the place landed U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents boarded the plane demanding Jian's passport. Rajput told ABC News, she was informed by one of the agents that this very situation is a "political issue"... "this is something foreign women do, to try and deliver overseas for citizenship."
Jian has since been deported and is no longer with her baby. Jian has reportedly said the baby is in custody in the U.S. and has been granted citizenship. According to Mashable, they were denied any information on the situation as the "agency is prohibited "from providing information regarding individual travelers."