Chinese Xinjiang Whistleblower Detained by ICE Fights U.S. Deportation

The article details the case of Guan Heng, a 38‑year‑old Chinese asylum seeker who says he fled China more than four years ago after secretly filming and publishing video of detention facilities in Xinjiang, and who has been held in ICE custody since agents encountered him during an August immigration operation near Albany, New York. Speaking by phone from Broome County Correctional Facility, Guan says he fears prosecution, imprisonment and torture if returned to China; a U.S. immigration judge is scheduled to hear his appeal on Monday. DHS initially tried to deport him to Uganda—a country he transited—before dropping that plan in December amid public outcry and pressure from lawmakers including Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi of the House Select Committee on the CCP, who is urging Secretary Kristi Noem to free him and grant asylum. Policy analysts and immigration advocates quoted in the piece say his case exemplifies a broader Trump administration effort to rapidly close asylum cases, keep applicants detained, and issue removal orders en masse, with federal data showing 170,626 asylum seekers ordered deported in 2025 and abandonment rates nearly tripling compared with the prior decade. The story underscores how the administration’s anti‑immigration campaign is ensnaring political dissidents from adversary states, raising questions about whether U.S. asylum protections for human‑rights whistleblowers are being eroded in practice.