US Drops Uganda Deportation Bid for Man Who Filmed China’s Uyghur Prison Camps

Guan Heng fled to the United States after documenting China’s detention camps targeting Uyghurs and other minorities in Xinjiang.

An alleged detention facility in northwestern Xinjiang region, China, on July 19, 2023. Pedro Pardo/AFP via Getty Images

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has withdrawn its request to deport to Uganda a Chinese national who documented Uyghur detention camps in China’s Xinjiang region, according to his lawyer.

The Chinese national, Guan Heng, documented the camps where the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has committed human rights abuses against Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities.

He later fled China in 2021, illegally entered the United States through South America to seek asylum, and released his video of the camps.

Guan was arrested by federal immigration authorities in August and faced potential deportation.

His lawyer, Allen Chen, said on Dec. 19 that they received a letter from DHS stating that it has withdrawn Guan’s removal order to Uganda. Chen welcomed the department’s decision as a positive development in the case and said that Guan is expected to have a bond hearing in the coming weeks.

The Epoch Times reached out to Chen for information but did not receive a response by publication time.

A DHS spokesperson said that Guan’s claims will be heard in immigration court.

“More information on this case is forthcoming,” the spokesperson noted. “All of his claims will be heard before an immigration judge.”

It remains unclear whether DHS would pursue his deportation to China or elsewhere. The department did not respond to a request for comment by publication time.

The Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, a bipartisan body led by members of the House of Representatives, stated on X that Guan will likely face persecution if returned to China.

“Guan Heng put himself at risk to document concentration camps in Xinjiang, part of the CCP’s genocide against Uyghurs,” it stated. “He should be given every opportunity to stay in a place of refuge.”

Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), ranking member of the House Select Committee on CCP, sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Dec. 12 urging her to approve Guan’s asylum application.

Krishnamoorthi said the United States has legal obligations to protect human rights whistleblowers and asylum seekers fleeing persecution by “authoritarian governments,” such as the CCP.

“The United States has a moral responsibility to stand up for victims of human rights abuses in Xinjiang, as well as the brave individuals who take immense personal risks to expose these abuses to the world,” he stated.

“He has a pending asylum application, and the circumstances of his departure from the PRC are a textbook example of why asylum exists. As Mr. Guam’s mother stated, ‘if he gets sent back [to China], he’s really dead.”

Last year, the United States and 14 other nations issued a joint statement on the human rights situation in Xinjiang and Tibet, citing a 2022 United Nations report that says the scale of the arbitrary detention of Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in Xinjiang “may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity”.

The CCP has denied claims of human rights abuses against Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in Xinjiang, referring to the camps as “vocational skills education centers.”

Reuters contributed to this report.