A screenshot from a 2021 video taken by Guan Heng exhibits what he mentioned was a detention middle within the Xinjiang area of China.
Guan Heng/Screenshot by NPR
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Guan Heng/Screenshot by NPR
Guan Heng, a local of landlocked north-central China, was so determined to succeed in the US in October 2021 that he determined to purchase a small inflatable boat, and set sail from the Bahamas.
He had simply printed roughly 20-minute video drawn from footage he had filmed in China’s Xinjiang area the place individuals have been reportedly being detained.
Guan believed the movie would result in his arrest in China, so he hoped to succeed in the U.S. and ask for asylum. Battling extreme seasickness and regardless of having no prior boating expertise, he reached the shores of Florida 23 hours later, he later instructed Human Rights in China, a U.S.-based advocacy group, which has been elevating consciousness about Guan’s case.
This week, after months of being held in U.S. immigration detention in upstate New York, the 38-year-old appeared through a video hyperlink earlier than an immigration court docket in upstate New York on his asylum software. His asylum case continues to be pending and a later listening to is scheduled for mid-January.
If asylum is denied, he might face deportation to Uganda, which a Division of Homeland Safety lawyer argued in favor of throughout a Monday listening to on Guan’s case. Such third-country deportations, wherein individuals are eliminated to international locations the place they aren’t from, have been cleared by the Supreme Courtroom in July. A second listening to for Guan is scheduled for Jan. 12.
The story of Guan’s determined escape to the US, solely to finish up in detention, raises contemporary questions over the scope of an increasing immigration crackdown within the U.S.
“He has a pending asylum application, and the circumstances of his departure from the PRC are a textbook example of why asylum exists,” Democratic Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois wrote in a letter despatched to Homeland Safety Secretary Kristi Noem on Saturday.
The Division of Homeland Safety mentioned Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) brokers had “encountered” Guan whereas finishing up a legal search warrant, in a press release despatched to NPR. “This illegal alien from China entered the U.S. illegally at an unknown date and time. All of his claims will be heard before an immigration judge.”
In 2020, Guan had develop into intrigued from English information reviews about China’s extrajudicial detention of at the least lots of of 1000’s of Uyghurs and different minorities within the Xinjiang area, in accordance with his mom and lawyer.
He determined to go to the area and movie hours of footage of purported detention camps and proof of the large securitization of the area.
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He didn’t dare publish the footage whereas nonetheless in China, so in July 2021, he left China and flew to Ecuador, which Chinese language nationals might then enter visa-free, then to the Bahamas, the place he purchased the small inflatable boat he sailed to the U.S., in accordance with his lawyer, Chen Chuangchuang.
About 15% of asylum purposes from Chinese language nationals adjudicated in 2024 have been rejected, in comparison with greater than 50% that have been granted.
Within the U.S., Guan utilized for asylum and secured a piece allow. He made ends meet driving Uber and doing odd jobs.
However this previous August, Guan was arrested by ICE who raided his residence initially to research his roommate, his lawyer mentioned.
“How Guan ended up being caught by ICE was really due to bad luck,” mentioned Chen, his lawyer.
His case has attracted criticism from human rights activists, who argue the U.S. should shield Guan as a whistleblower.
His household again in China says they have been interrogated extensively after Guan left the nation and printed his Xinjiang footage.
“There is not one family member of his who has been left unaffected and not investigated,” his mom, Luo Yun, who lives in Taiwan, instructed NPR. “My son is young, his road [in life] is still long. … I hope he can stay in the U.S. He has no path of retreat from this.”
Inside China, authorities have aggressively detained and arrested individuals they think of endangering safety in Xinjiang, together with individuals who leak data. Beijing stays delicate to worldwide criticism over its detention marketing campaign within the area.
