‘We should find, prosecute, and sanction any Chinese Communist Party official involved in standing up police stations on U.S. soil,’ Rep. Ashley Hinson said.
A group of Republican lawmakers has introduced a bicameral bill to combat China’s efforts to establish secretive police stations on American soil.
Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-Iowa), who sits on the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, introduced the Expel Illegal Chinese Police Act of 2025 (
H.R.2127) on March 14. The committee’s chairman, Rep. John Moolenaar (R-Mich.), co-led the bill.
“The Chinese Communist Party should have never been able to operate police stations in the U.S. to surveil American citizens and harass Chinese citizens who have fled the Communist regime,” Hinson said in a
statement on March 18.
“We should find, prosecute, and sanction any Chinese Communist Party official involved in standing up police stations on U.S. soil.”
Hinson said the legislation would “end these illegal intimidation tactics that undermine U.S. sovereignty and finally hold the Chinese Communist Party accountable for such egregious violations.”
The legislation would empower the U.S. president to impose financial sanctions, asset freezes, and visa restrictions on entities and individuals operating Chinese police stations in the United States.
It would also enhance penalties for those acting under the
direction of Beijing’s United Front Work Department to harass or coerce U.S. residents and dissidents.
The United Front Work Department, which answers directly to China’s Central Committee, is an arm of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) that coordinates thousands of groups to carry out foreign political influence operations, including intelligence gathering and the facilitation of technology transfer to China.
“These stations represent a direct threat to our national security and undermine the rule of law in the United States,” Moolenaar said in a
statement.
The Senate version of the legislation (
S.49) was introduced earlier this year by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
“No foreign government has the right to operate secret police stations on American soil,” Cotton said in a
statement. “The Chinese Communist Party’s actions undermine international norms and human rights by circumventing legal extradition processes and engaging in intimidation tactics.
“This legislation sends a clear message: the United States will never tolerate illegal operations that violate our sovereignty and intimidate individuals living within our borders.”
The presence of a secretive Chinese police station in Manhattan came to light in April 2023, after federal prosecutors
charged two Chinese men for running the facility in coordination with China’s Ministry of Public Security. One of the defendants, Chen Jinping,
pleaded guilty in December 2024 to acting as an illegal Chinese agent.
According to a 2022
report from Spain-based nonprofit rights group Safeguard Defenders, the Chinese regime established more than 100 overseas police stations in 53 countries.
The House bill is cosponsored by Reps. Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.), Troy Balderson (R-Ohio), Neal Dunn (R-Fla.), Zach Nunn (R-Iowa), Stephanie Bice (R-Okla.), and Juan Ciscomani (R-Ariz.).
Aderholt said in a
statement that the presence of these illegal police stations is a “blatant attempt by the CCP to extend its authoritarian reach beyond its borders.”
In May 2023, Liang Litang, a U.S. citizen, was
arrested for charges related to surveilling Chinese dissidents in the Boston area. According to court documents, he allegedly
provided a list of the dissidents to Chinese Consulate officials in New York.
Liang allegedly also took trips to China and met with senior CCP officials in the United Front Work Department, according to court documents.
Some U.S.-based United Front organizations have been
accused of being responsible for the street violence in San Francisco in November 2023, when pro-CCP supporters
attacked peaceful demonstrators who were there to protest CCP leader Xi Jinping’s visit to the city for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.
In October 2020, the U.S. State Department
designated the National Association for China’s Peaceful Unification—which described itself as a “nonprofit organization”—as a foreign mission. The agency called the association a front organization controlled by the United Front Work Department.
A 2020
investigation by Newsweek found about 600 United Front organizations in the United States.
The bicameral Congressional-Executive Commission on China also identified China’s United Front organizations in the United States as responsible for “malign influence operations,” calling on the executive branch of the U.S. government to shut down their operations, according to its report
published in December 2024.
