US: Chinese asylum seeker who exposed rights abuses in his native China fights to stay in the US

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/49588795

Guan Heng, who exposed human rights abuses in his native China, has been in U.S. custody since being swept up in an immigration enforcement operation in August. He says he dares not even think about what would happen to him if he were sent back.

“I would be prosecuted, I would be jailed, I would be tortured. All of that could happen,” Guan, 38, told The Associated Press in a recent call from the Broome County Correctional Facility in New York.

A judge on Monday is to consider his appeal to remain in the United States, where he sought asylum after fleeing his homeland more than four years ago to publish video footage of detention facilities in China’s Xinjiang region.

The Department of Homeland Security initially sought to deport him to Uganda, but dropped the plan in December after his plight raised public concerns and attracted attention on Capitol Hill. But his future remains unclear.

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Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, a member of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, has urged Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to release Guan and approve his asylum request.

In a statement to the AP on Friday in reference to Guan's case, the Illinois Democrat called for “careful adherence to due process and America’s long-standing commitment to protecting human rights whistleblowers.”

Immigrants can apply for asylum when there’s a fear of harm back home because of their race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group.

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