Defense

Bipartisan Lawmakers Demand Biden DHS Improve Crackdown On Uyghur Slave Labor

(Photo by China Photos/Getty Images)

Daily Caller News Foundation logo
Philip Lenczycki Investigative Reporter
Font Size:
  • The Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) has asked the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to intensify its enforcement of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA), according to a letter obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation Tuesday.
  • CECC’s letter called on DHS to increase transparency concerning U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s process of reviewing contested imports.
  • “There remains serious concerns over the transparency and robustness of its efforts,” CECC’s chairman, Republican New Jersey Rep. Chris Smith, told the DCNF.

Congress is demanding increased oversight on Chinese imports potentially produced through slave labor, according to a bipartisan letter obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation Tuesday.

The Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), a U.S. government agency mandated to monitor human rights and the development of law in China, called on the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to step up its enforcement of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA), legislation intended to “prevent goods made with forced labor in Xinjiang from entering U.S. markets and to further promote accountability for persons and entities responsible for these abuses,” according to the State Department. CECC has asked DHS to provide additional transparency regarding its review process of contested goods as well as additional guidance regarding sources of forced labor, according to the letter signed by CECC commissioners Democratic Oregon Sen. Jeffrey Merkley, Democratic Massachusetts Rep. James McGovern, Republican Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and CECC’s chairman, Republican New Jersey Rep. Chris Smith. (RELATED: ‘Truly A Good Friday’: Over 60 Members Of Persecuted Chinese Church Saved, Bound For Texas)

“We remain concerned that Congress lacks sufficient information and transparency to accurately assess whether implementation of the law comports with congressional intent,” CECC’s letter stated.

Smith told the DCNF that although DHS “has made progress” in implementing the UFLPA, “there remains serious concerns over the transparency and robustness of its efforts.”

Under the UFLPA, importers bear the burden of providing “clear and convincing evidence” to the U.S. government proving that potential Chinese imports originating from “high-risk sectors, such as textiles, agriculture and solar panels” are “not tainted by forced labor,” CECC’s letter stated.

CECC’s letter called on DHS to provide “greater transparency” regarding the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) review process of goods initially flagged as having a link to forced labor, expressing concern that some goods were later being “cleared without congressional or public reporting.”

CECC cited an incident in which CBP allegedly stopped nearly “300 cargo shipments” including “items from high-risk sectors with significant ties” to forced labor, yet ultimately allowed the cargo to enter the U.S. after the importer claimed that UFLPA “didn’t apply.”

“We are concerned that importers whose goods are detained are claiming that UFLPA does not apply and these goods receive an ‘applicability review’ which CBP does not believe needs to be reported publicly or to Congress,” CECC’s letter to DHS stated.

In recent years, multiple governments including the U.S., U.K. and Canada determined that China is inflicting “genocide” and “crimes against humanity” upon Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities through “arbitrary imprisonment,” “sterilization” and “forced labor.”

“Xi Jinping’s genocide against the Uyghurs goes far beyond the mass incarceration of at least 1 million victims and includes the complete erasure of the Uyghur culture and the brainwashing of their children in a ruthless campaign to obliterate their identity,” Smith told the DCNF.

“We also know that Uyghurs are targeted by the Chinese Communist Party for forced organ harvesting — with an annual cull rate (disappearance rate) of 2.5 to 5 percent for victims with an average age of 28 years old,” Smith said.

WASHINGTON, DC - OCTOBER 10: Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) (R), and Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) speak about the Congressional-Executive Commission on China during a news conference to discuss the commission's annual report on human rights conditions and the rule of law in China, on Capitol Hill on October 10, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON, DC – OCTOBER 10: Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) (R), and Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) speak about the Congressional-Executive Commission on China during a news conference to discuss the commission’s annual report on human rights conditions and the rule of law in China, on Capitol Hill on October 10, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

CECC’s letter also called on DHS to expand the Entity List, which, among other things, identifies businesses subject to import-export restrictions “based on national security and/or foreign policy considerations,” according to the U.S. Department of Commerce.

CECC’s letter stated that although “numerous civil society groups” have “compiled data” on entities linked to forced labor in China, the Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force (FLETF) at DHS has failed to update the Entity List with “additional listings.”

“We request that the FLETF accelerate its efforts to expand the Entity List as soon as possible, and to continually update that list during the year as circumstances require, utilizing fully the data provided by reputable civil society organizations,” CECC’s letter states.

Likewise, CECC also flagged a number of other concerns related to DHS enforcement of UFLPA including the possibility that “direct-to-consumer purchases” and “transshipment from third countries” might potentially circumvent the act.

“The hearing that I am chairing next week will shed light on what further action is needed to ensure that the U.S. is not complicit in funding the Chinese Communist Party’s campaign to eradicate the Uyghur people,” Smith told the DCNF.

The Chinese Embassy and DHS did not respond immediately to the DCNF’s request for comment.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel