On August 1, Chinese national Chaofeng Ge was abducted by ICE and taken to the Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Five days later, Ge was found dead. Initial reports stated he was discovered “with a cloth ligature around his neck in a shower stall.” What they failed to mention, and what an autopsy later obtained by Ge’s family lawyer revealed, was that Ge had been “hog-tied,” with his hands and ankles bound behind his back with bedsheet linens.
Ge is one of at least 25 people who have died in ICE custody in the past year. His death, and the attempts to minimize or obscure what happened, reflect a much wider pattern of violence toward immigrants, who have been systematically denied safety and due process, and inhumanely abducted and abused. According the the family lawyer, Ge was unable to communicate with anyone in the facility due to their inability to speak Mandarin, which caused him great distress. It was also revealed that there were no real attempts to bridge communication with Ge or offer him any physical or mental care.
After Ge’s death, Pennsylvania Congresswomen Summer Lee and Mary Gay Scanlon requested a routine visit to the site that was illegally denied by ICE and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, preventing even elected representatives from seeing the conditions in which immigrants are being held. But so far, neither the House nor the Senate has demanded an investigation into the escalating number of deaths in ICE detention this year. We must demand answers for all the lives ruined by this brutal detention system, and justice for Chaofeng Ge and his family.Â
👉Request Rep. Summer Lee and Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon Call on Congress to Investigate Ge’s Death!Â
With U.S. cities becoming more militarized and ICE acting with unchecked impunity, violence against the people continues to escalate. Two weeks ago, three visiting Chinese graduate workers at the University of Michigan were detained by ICE at the airport as they tried to return to China. They were fired by the university because of their connection to Chengxuan Han, who had been charged with “smuggling” roundworms, a harmless organism commonly found in soil. At her sentencing, District Judge Matthew Leitman rejected the federal government’s claims that Han posed a national security threat, stating, “From what I can tell, this material was not a threat at all.”
These accusations are part of a broader pattern in which ordinary errors are escalated into alleged national security threats to justify the targeting of Chinese nationals. The narrative of China as an imminent “invader” or source of “terror” is being used to manufacture public support for a political and military campaign against China, while immigrants, students, and researchers bear the human costs.
This targeting is also part of a broader revival of the “China Initiative,” a federal program originally launched in 2018 that unfairly targeted Chinese and Chinese American scholars. Meant to "prevent espionage," it went after any individuals with ties to China, most often with no evidence of wrongdoing. The program fueled anti-Asian discrimination, created a climate of fear in academia, and ruined countless careers. Very few convictions were made, yet countless scientists suffered permanent professional and personal harm. While the China Initiative was disbanded under Biden on account of its blatant racism, the current Trump administration is attempting to revive it to continue the war against Chinese nationals and Chinese Americans.Â
Just last week, ICE tore a Chinese father away from his 6-year-old son, whose whereabouts are still unknown. This horrifying separation is one of many; over 150 children under the age of 18 have already been detained by ICE, many of them without even basic information provided to their families. The consistent dehumanization of Chinese citizens, and of all immigrants should never be treated as normal. It is a crisis that demands our outrage, and immediate action.
While the persecution of Chinese Americans is not new, it will escalate at unprecedented rates if the China Initiative is revived. Countless lives and careers have already been ruined and lost, including Chaofeng Ge, who deserves the full respect and dignity of a thorough investigation into his death. We must stand in solidarity with the Chinese community and do everything in our power to protect them from targeted harassment, wrongful detention, and the broader climate of fear and intimidation fueled by the U.S. war on China
Peace and solidarity,Â
Megan, Jodie, and the CODEPINK Team
🎥 RSVP for our teach-in on the University of Michigan's ongoing persecution of its Chinese students!Â
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