ICE Arrests 4 Chinese Nationals Suspected of Involvement in Grisly Practice

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Officers on March 20, 2019. ICE/Flickr

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) last month arrested four known or suspected human rights violators from China involved with the state-backed practice of forced abortions and sterilizations, amid a wider crackdown on rights abusers.

The four Chinese nationals were among 39 illegal immigrants who were arrested during a nationwide ICE operation in late August, the federal agency said in a Sept. 4 press release.

According to ICE, the arrested Chinese nationals were known or suspected to have been “complicit in collaborating with the government to assist in forced abortions and sterilizations against victims.”

“ICE will not allow war criminals and human rights abusers to use the U.S. as a safe haven,” ICE acting director Matthew Albence said in the statement. “We will never stop looking for them and we will never cease seeking justice for the victims of their crimes.”

The illegal immigrants arrested in the operation all had outstanding removal orders and were subject to repatriation to their countries of origin, the federal agency said.

Among the other arrested known or suspected human rights violators were those from countries in Central America and West Africa.

The sting formed part of a broader campaign by the agency called “Operation No Safe Haven” to target human rights violators who seek refuge in the United States. This includes those who are known or suspected to have participated in persecution, war crimes, torture, and severe violations of religious freedom.

A young orphaned Chinese girl stands in a crib at a foster care center on April 2, 2014 in Beijing, China. Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

Abortions Directed By The State

For decades, the Chinese communist regime strictly enforced the one-child policy, and women who didn’t comply were subjected to heavy fines, forced abortions, and sterilizations.

Pregnant women, even those at very late stages of pregnancy, were targeted by family planning officials and forced to go through abortions.

A victim, Ping Liu, testified at a 2011 congressional hearing that from 1983 to 1990, she was forced to have five abortions because of the one-child policy.

“When discovered [by family planning authorities], pregnant women would be dragged to undergo forced abortions—there simply was no other choice. We had no dignity as potential child-bearers,” Liu said in the testimony.

Former midwife Yuan Huaru said in a recent documentary “One Child Nation” exposing the issue that she had been involved in 50,000 to 60,000 sterilizations and abortions.

“In those days, women were abducted by government officials, tied up and dragged to us like pigs,” the 84-year-old said in the film.

“Many I induced alive and killed. My hands trembled doing it.”

The Chinese regime has claimed that the policy prevented 400 million births from 1979 to 2011.

While the policy was lifted in 2016, its effects still remain with the country facing a huge gender disparity—there were 31 million more men than women in 2018—and a rapidly aging and shrinking population.