ICE Arrests Chinese National Convicted of Illegally Acting as Foreign Agent

Ming Xi Zhang was arrested in Newark, New Jersey, early this week and remains in custody.

ICE agents apprehend Ming Xi Zhang, a Chinese national who was sentenced last year for acting as an agent of a foreign government without prior notification to the U.S. Attorney General. ICE

A Chinese national who was convicted of illegally acting as an agent of a foreign government was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on March 24.

ICE Newark arrested Ming Xi Zhang in Newark, New Jersey, on March 24, the agency said in a statement. He remains in custody.

After lawfully entering the country in June 2000 at the Los Angeles International Airport, Zhang violated the terms of his admission. He was convicted by the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey of illegally acting as an agent of a foreign government without prior notification to the attorney general.

On April 30, 2024, he was sentenced to three years of probation.

“Any illegal alien conducting activities related to espionage, sabotage, or export control against the United States is subject to deportation,” ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Newark Field Office Director John Tsoukaris said in a statement.

The release did not say if Zhang had violated his probation. ICE did not respond to a request for comment by publication time.

Under the Trump administration, ICE officers have been busy conducting operations to enforce U.S. immigration law across the country and deport illegal immigrants deemed a high priority for deportation over their links with criminal activity.

On March 24, ICE stated that it had arrested 370 “alien offenders” during a crackdown on criminal activities in Massachusetts from March 18 to March 23.

Those arrests were part of an “enhanced targeted enforcement operation focusing on transnational organized crime, gangs, and egregious illegal alien offenders,” the agency said in a statement.

Among the organizations targeted are the Tren de Aragua, MS-13, Trinitarios, and 18th Street gangs. The State Department designated Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua and the El Salvador-based MS-13 as terrorist organizations in February.

Federal authorities announced on March 21 that they had apprehended 68 Tren de Aragua members, according to a report by the Department of Homeland Security.

“In less than 100 days, the Trump Administration has arrested 394 members of the Tren De Aragua—a vicious gang known for human trafficking, kidnapping, drug trafficking, and other heinous acts terrorizing American communities,” the agency wrote in a statement.

The Trump administration charged more than 840 illegal immigrants with immigration-related crimes in a single week as part of Operation Take Back America, according to a March 24 statement from the Department of Justice.

“We are grateful for the hard work of our border prosecutors in bringing these cases and helping to make our border safe again,” the DOJ said in a statement.

On March 17, ICE arrested Jeanette Vizguerra, an illegal immigrant who had taken refuge in churches during the first Trump administration.

Naveen Anthrappully, Tom Ozimek, and Zachary Stieber contributed to this report.