Neighbors had complained of a sewage spill from an overloaded septic system and cars speeding in and out of the driveway. An inspection found exposed wiring, missing smoke alarms and holes in bedroom floors - as well as brochures on how to have a U.S. citizen baby, according to the Times.
Since then the county has received some 65 complaints about maternity homes operating in the county's San Gabriel Valley, home to a large Asian population.
A report commissioned by the county board of supervisors in December said zoning enforcement agents had investigated 20 such illegal maternity hotels that it described as part of a mushrooming "birthing tourism" trend.
"This trend seems to be expanding in Southern California (particularly in Los Angeles counties) as well as New York City and Vancouver, Canada," the report said.
Southern California immigration activists suggested the issue was being blown out of proportion, saying it may have been stoked by an ongoing national debate over illegal immigration.
"If you've got a home and it's unsafe for one reason or another, you certainly want a public safety interaction making the place safer," said Manuel Pastor, a professor of sociology at the University of Southern California.
"But this is playing out against the terrain of pretty heated immigration politics that's likely to get even more heated in next few months," Pastor said.
In October, a pregnant woman who was arrested trying to cross from Mexico into California with a fake identification documents to deliver her baby in Los Angeles made headlines when she told customs agents that she was the daughter of Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.
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