DHS Drops Deportation Plan for Xinjiang Whistleblower

The Department of Homeland Security has withdrawn its plan to deport Guan Heng, a Chinese national whose secret footage from China’s Xinjiang region helped bring global attention to alleged human rights abuses, rights advocates said Monday.

Human rights lawyer Rayhan Asat, who has been assisting in the case, said Guan’s legal team received formal notice confirming that DHS had dropped its request to deport him to Uganda. Asat said the decision clears the way for Guan’s asylum case to move forward and expressed confidence that it would now proceed “smoothly and favorably.”

The move was also confirmed by Zhou Fengsuo, executive director of the advocacy group Human Rights in China, which has been closely involved in supporting Guan. “We’re really happy with this outcome,” Zhou said, adding that public attention had played a key role in shifting the case.

DHS did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Records from Immigration and Customs Enforcement still list Guan, 38, as being in detention. His lawyers are now seeking his release on bond from an ICE detention facility in New York.

Secret Footage from Xinjiang

Guan came to international attention after secretly filming detention facilities in Xinjiang in 2020. Rights groups say such facilities have been used to detain up to one million people from ethnic minority communities, particularly Uyghurs. China’s government has rejected allegations of abuse, describing the sites as vocational training centers aimed at countering extremism and improving job skills.

According to Human Rights in China, Guan knew he could not safely release the footage while still in the country. In 2021, he left mainland China for Hong Kong and later traveled to Ecuador, which at the time did not require visas for Chinese citizens. From there, he moved on to the Bahamas.

The group said Guan then purchased a small inflatable boat and an outboard motor and set out across open water toward the United States. After nearly 23 hours at sea, he reached Florida’s coastline. Shortly afterward, the videos he had recorded in Xinjiang were published on YouTube, adding to the growing body of evidence cited by activists and researchers documenting alleged abuses in the region.

Pressure on Family and Arrest in the US

After the footage became public, Guan was reportedly doxxed, and Chinese state security officials summoned his family back home, according to the rights group. Fearing persecution if returned, Guan applied for asylum in the United States and settled in a small town near Albany, New York, hoping to keep a low profile.

That period of relative calm ended in August, when ICE agents detained him. His case drew renewed attention after advocates warned that deportation could place him at serious risk.

Growing Political Support

Public backing for Guan intensified in recent weeks, including from members of the US Congress. Ahead of a recent court appearance, lawmakers urged the administration to offer him protection.

The bipartisan Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission said Guan had taken enormous personal risks to document what it described as concentration camps in Xinjiang. In a post on X, the commission warned that deportation could expose him to persecution and called on the US to provide him with refuge.

Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois, the senior Democrat on the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, wrote to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem urging Guan’s release and approval of his asylum claim.

“The United States has a moral responsibility to stand up for victims of human rights abuses in Xinjiang,” Krishnamoorthi wrote, “and for the brave individuals who put their own safety on the line to expose these abuses to the world.”

With DHS now stepping back from deportation, Guan’s supporters say the focus will turn to securing his release from detention and ensuring his asylum case is heard without further delay.