A Chinese human rights lawyer awaiting asylum approval was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement while working as an Amazon delivery driver in Pennsylvania this week, sparking alarm among activist communities about his potential deportation to face persecution.
Wu Shaoping, who fled China in late 2019 following a sweeping crackdown on civil rights lawyers, was stopped by ICE officers on Wednesday in Mount Holly Springs, Cumberland County. Officers asked for proof of citizenship. Wu provided documentation of his pending asylum application and noted he had entered the country legally on a tourist visa before filing for protection in 2020.
He was taken into custody and transported to a detention facility. An immigration hearing is scheduled for July 27.
Wu's arrest has reverberated through networks of Chinese exiles and dissidents in the United States. Zhou Fengsuo, a veteran of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests now living in America, said the detention had sparked "enormous fear among many of my friends who fled the Chinese Communist party to look for some kind of protection in US."
Before his escape, Wu had evolved from commercial law practice into human rights work during the 2010s, when loose networks of lawyers and activists began challenging China's political system. He represented religious minorities and political dissenters, cases that often resulted in disbarment and official harassment. His wife, Li Caoliu, said Wu believed in freedom and democracy and opposed the way "China's authoritarian system oppressed the common people."
The breaking point came in December 2019. Wu attended a gathering of human rights defenders in the southern city of Xiamen. Authorities subsequently arrested multiple participants in what became a major crackdown on the movement. Two of China's most prominent human rights lawyers, Ding Jiaxi and Xu Zhiyong, were convicted of subversion of state power and remain imprisoned.
Wu fled shortly after. Friends say he remains hopeful about his asylum prospects but is frustrated by his detention, believing he should not have been arrested given his legal entry and pending claim status.
Shi Minglei, who spoke to Wu in detention, warned that return to China would be catastrophic. Wu would likely face imprisonment, mirroring the experiences of other activists. Shi's own husband, Cheng Yuan, spent five years in Chinese prison for his activism.
Just weeks before his arrest, Wu spoke at a commemoration of the July 2015 nationwide crackdown that devastated China's human rights legal profession. "For us, this is not a romantic or performative act, but rather an unavoidable mission and responsibility," he said. "Speaking out here today is not only for myself but for my fellow lawyers who remain behind bars and silenced."
Author James Rodriguez: "Wu's arrest illuminates a collision between America's asylum ideals and immigration enforcement that leaves vulnerable dissidents in limbo and fuels justified paranoia among those who thought they'd found refuge."
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