Argentine officials have blamed organized "mafias" for promoting birth tourism to the South American country by Russian mothers-to-be amid a boom in numbers traveling there since the invasion of Ukraine looking to get their children citizenship.
Thousands of expectant Russian mothers have arrived in Argentina over the last year, including 33 on a single flight last week, which threw a spotlight on the trend. Some were detained and officials launched a crackdown on the practice.
Florencia Carignano, head of Argentina's immigration office, wrote on Twitter on Sunday that "mafia organizations were profiting by offering packages to obtain our passport to people who do not actually want to reside in our country."
