A young man named Guan Heng, who risked his life to film footage of Xinjiang concentration camps and arrived in the United States in 2020, has recently been detained by immigration authorities. There were initial reports suggesting that he might be sent to Uganda. However, his lawyer Chen Chuangchuang confirmed on Friday (19th) afternoon that Guan Heng is now eligible for bail, no longer required to stay in immigration detention, and no longer faced the threat of being transferred to Uganda.
Originally from Henan, Guan Heng traveled alone to Xinjiang, spending about three days marking the locations of over a dozen camps labeled as “reeducation centers” by the Chinese Communist Party with a digital camera. The videos he released after fleeing China provided substantial evidence of the large-scale detention of Uighur people by the Chinese government and have been widely cited by international media.
In August this year, Guan Heng was detained at his residence in upstate New York by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), facing the imminent risk of deportation to Uganda. His case has garnered widespread media attention and support from various sectors of American society.
Chen Chuangchuang informed a reporter that the policy of deporting Chinese asylum seekers to Uganda was terminated this Friday, which is closely related to Guan Heng’s case. “Although this policy involves more than one person, the Guan Heng case was the first and most high-profile one that surfaced.”
According to Chen Chuangchuang, several prominent U.S. media outlets reported on Guan Heng’s case, and members of Congress and immigration lawyers have expressed their opinions. He believes that “there should have been high-level attention that led the Department of Homeland Security to quickly reverse this policy, it’s not likely that it was solely due to introspection by those responsible within DHS. External pressure had a significant impact.”
Chen Chuangchuang mentioned that in September, the White House directed asylum seekers from Spanish-speaking countries like Cuba and Venezuela to be sent to countries in Central and South America such as Honduras. “This policy has been in effect for three months without much media reaction, but when it came to deporting Chinese immigrants to Uganda, with a high-profile case like Guan Heng’s, changes appeared in less than a week.”
Previously, Chen Chuangchuang noticed that many new Chinese immigrants were extremely anxious about being sent to Uganda. After the policy was canceled, he reminded that legally, Chinese asylum seekers could still be sent to other countries. However, with a significant decrease in the number of foreign asylum seekers from African and South American countries, the pressure on the immigration administration has eased, and the federal government may not introduce radical policies in the near future.
For Chinese newcomers, another good news is that a California immigration court ruled on Thursday to allow individuals detained by ICE to apply for bail. This means that Guan Heng and other asylum seekers held in immigration detention can now seek bail.
Chen Chuangchuang believes that the rapid adjustment of U.S. immigration policy is attributed to the system of checks and balances among the three branches of government and media oversight, indicating that “people still have confidence in the rule of law in the United States.”
The swift changes in immigration policy have stirred discussions in the Chinese online community. Many expressed incredulity because in China, correcting the authorities’ mistakes is nearly impossible, and countless victims have been left with no recourse, which is one of the major reasons why many Chinese people choose to flee their homeland.