by Philip Lenczycki
Espionage, illegal immigration and other illicit activities linked to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) have increased dramatically under the Biden-Harris administration, according to a House report exclusively obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
A “China Threat Snapshot” released Thursday by the House Committee On Homeland Security’s Subcommittee On Counterterrorism, Law Enforcement, And Intelligence, details 59 “CCP-related” criminal cases that occurred in 20 U.S. states between February 2021 and August 2024. The cases listed within the committee’s report involve a variety of alleged criminal activities including bribery, hacking and theft of trade secrets.
“The Chinese Communist Party is not satisfied with destroying freedom and repressing its citizens within its own borders,” Tennessee Republican Rep. Mark Green, chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, told the DCNF. “Beijing has continually encroached upon American sovereignty to spy, intimidate, and harass not only defectors, but even American citizens.”
The China Threat Snapshot provides statistics overviewing how CCP-related activities have “expanded rapidly” throughout the U.S. in recent years.
“About 80% of economic espionage prosecutions allege conduct that would benefit the Chinese state, and there is at least some nexus to China in around 60% of all trade secret theft cases,” according to the report. Charges of trade secret theft are present in 14 of the 59 CCP-related criminal cases included in the committee’s report.
In one listed example, the Department of Justice charged Chenguang Gong, a Chinese national living in California, with theft of trade secrets in February 2024 for allegedly transferring thousands of files from his employer to his personal devices. Some of these files allegedly contained “information on sensors designed for nuclear missile detection as well as other sensitive technologies,” according to the committee’s report.
The China Threat Snapshot notes that there have been “224 reported incidents of Chinese espionage directed at the U.S. between 2000 and 2023,” with the states most impacted being California, Illinois, New York, Ohio and Florida.
The committee’s report also highlights a number of recent U.S. government efforts to counter the CCP’s malign activities, such as the SHIELD Against CCP Act, which aims to “establish in the Department of Homeland Security a working group relating to countering terrorist, cybersecurity, border and port security, and transportation security threats posed to the United States by the Chinese Communist Party,” according to the bill.
At the same time, the House Committee On Homeland Security also warned about the recent spike in Chinese illegal immigration on Thursday.
“The Biden-Harris administration has overseen the largest influx of Chinese nationals illegally crossing the Southwest border,” a press release from the House Committee On Homeland Security stated. “In FY24 alone, Border Patrol agents have recorded more than 36,000 apprehensions of Chinese nationals — more than all those recorded from FY07-20 combined.”
The Biden administration drastically simplified the vetting process for Chinese illegal immigrants in 2023, increasing the speed of Chinese nationals entering the U.S., the DCNF reported in January after obtaining a leaked U.S. Customs and Border Protection email. The April 2023 email directed Border Patrol agents to reduce the number of interview questions for Chinese illegal immigrants apprehended after illegally crossing into the country from roughly 40 to just five “basic questions.”
North Carolina Republican Rep. Dan Bishop, chairman of the House Committee On Homeland Security’s subcommittee on oversight, held a hearing in May 2024 examining the roughly 8,000% increase in Chinese illegal immigration the U.S. has experienced since March 2021, as well as federal policies that may have contributed to the surge.
"Unfortunately, under the Biden administration, Border Patrol agents have been instructed that when processing Chinese nationals, they should conduct short, basic interviews, that include only generic background questions, instead of in-depth interviews. In other words, there is… pic.twitter.com/xt91kkV8mM
— Philip Lenczycki 蔡岳 (@LenczyckiPhilip) May 16, 2024
Most recently, the DCNF revealed the existence of a private social network run by a self-identified Chinese “cyber police” officer, which provides Chinese illegal immigrants with resources to get into the U.S. and evade border authorities. The online network also appears to be aiding and abetting prostitution and sex trafficking into the U.S., the DCNF discovered.
“To be clear, our adversary is not with the Chinese people, but the threat comes from the tyrannical regime that oppresses its own people, commits genocide, censors speech, and seeks to undermine representative government,” Rep. Green said. “It is important we remain clear-eyed about the threat the CCP poses to the security of the American people so we are prepared to counter its malign influence at every turn.”
The White House did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.
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Philip Lenczycki is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation.
