Immigration judge grants asylum to Chinese national who exposed human rights abuses in homeland

An immigration judge in New York on Wednesday granted asylum to a Chinese national who exposed human rights abuses in China, acknowledging the man had a “well-founded fear” of persecution if sent back home.

The Chinese national, 38-year-old Guan Heng, applied for asylum after arriving in the U.S. illegally in 2021, according to the Associated Press. But he has been in custody since last August after being swept up in an immigration raid. 

Guan fled to the United States after secretly recording human rights abuses at detention facilities in Xinjiang, where as many as a million people of ethnic minorities, including the Uyghurs, have been detained. China has denied the abuses. 

Judge Charles Ouslander asked the refugee if he had purposely filmed the abuse to strengthen his asylum case in the United States, which Guan denied, stating that he “sympathized with the Uyghurs who were persecuted.”

Guan admitted that he knew he would need to flee the country after the footage was released, and did so by going to Hong Kong, then Ecuador, then the Bahamas and then finally to Florida on a boat. 

Guan had uploaded the footage before setting sail to Florida, but said he didn’t know whether he would survive the boat trip and wanted to make sure the footage would be seen.

The migrant also told the judge that his father was questioned by the Chinese police three times after the footage was released, and Ouslander noted the interrogations of Guan's family, which included questions about his whereabouts, in his ruling. 

The judge also said Guan's testimony was “credible and worthy of belief," and that he had proven his eligibility for asylum.

Although Guan has won the case, an attorney for the Department of Homeland Security signaled that the Trump administration might appeal the ruling. The department has 30 days to do so and the man will remain in custody until then. 

The Trump administration initially intended to deport Guan to Uganda but his story of facing likely persecution in China after exposing human rights abuses and backlash from the public prompted the administration to drop the case last month.

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.