A bipartisan group of U.S. House members has introduced legislation aimed at freeing Americans unjustly detained in China.
The bill, unveiled by Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), would enable the U.S. government to utilize diplomatic, legal, and economic tools to bring its citizens back home.
The proposed measures also seek to counter the Chinese regime’s tactic of holding family members of American citizens as hostages to silence critics of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Smith said in a press release on Sept. 19.
The CCP holds more Americans as prisoners than any other nation in the world, according to Smith, co-chairman of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, a panel created by Congress in 2000 to monitor human rights abuses in the communist country.
“Innocent Americans have been wrongfully imprisoned and tortured by an amoral legal system that has no respect for truth, due process, and basic human rights,” he said. “It is well past time that the United States responds forcefully and fearlessly to rescue its citizens who have been held hostage by the CCP.”
The Nelson Wells Jr. and Dawn Michelle Hunt Unjustly Detained in Communist China Act is named after the two Americans who have spent more than a decade in Chinese prisons.
Nelson Wells Jr. was arrested in 2014 and later sentenced to 22 years in prison after Chinese officials allegedly discovered drugs in his bag, something his family insists he knew nothing about, according to Smith’s office. After years of detention, the New Orleans native is in poor health, suffering from weight loss and mental and physical health issues, his father said in a statement.
Dawn Michelle Hunt from Chicago was detained in the same year on similar drug-related charges. Duped into believing she had won a cash prize, Hunt travelled to Hong Kong and mainland China, where she received a designer bag with illicit drugs sewn into the lining, her brother told a congressional hearing in September 2024. Dawn Hunt is serving a life sentence in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong.
Krishnamoorthi, ranking member of the House Select Committee on China, said Dawn Hunt has been “used as leverage by the CCP.”
“This legislation is about Dawn, and other Americans who are unjustly detained or blocked from returning home by the People’s Republic of China,” he said in a statement. “We must show her family, and all families like hers, that America will never abandon its own.”
<p><span>Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) speaks during the China Forum in Washington on Sept. 25, 2024. </span><span class="post_caption_credit"><span>Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times</span></span></p>
More than 200 U.S. nationals are under detention, exit bans, or other forms of coercive measures in China, according to estimates by the Dui Hua Foundation, a San Francisco-based rights group advocating for political prisoners in China.
Additionally, some Americans have family members being held by Chinese authorities, in an attempt to censor their free speech in the United States. Among the cases highlighted by lawmakers are Rushan Abbas, a Uyghur American activist whose sister was handed a 20-year prison sentence in 2019 on terrorism-related charges. Her sister, Gulshan Abbas, a retired medical doctor, has been detained in the far-western region of Xinjiang since September 2018, six days after she spoke out about the CCP’s mistreatment of Uyghurs at an event in Washington.
The exact number of other U.S. citizens experiencing exit bans, detention, or other punitive measures aimed at influencing U.S. government policies or intimidating their family members is unknown, largely due to the opacity of the CCP’s judicial system, according to the bill’s text.
The bill, HR 5491, would direct the Secretary of State to create a “cases of concern” list, detailing U.S. nationals who are unjustly detained in China, including those whose family members are being held as leverage.
If enacted, the legislation would require the Secretary of State to devise a diplomatic action plan within 60 days, which would include appointing a senior coordinator to focus on the “cases of concern” list, exploring the possibility of utilizing international prisoner transfer programs, and assessing available sanctions and legal options.
<p><span>Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) speaks during a press conference about Hong Kong at House Triangle on Capitol Hill in Washington on Nov. 19, 2024. </span><span class="post_caption_credit"><span>Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times</span></span></p>
The Secretary of State would also be mandated to submit a report to Congress that provides basic information on the number and details of Americans under detention or exit ban in China, along with the diplomatic actions and recommendations for further legislative or funding efforts.
Under the legislative proposal, families of individuals detained abroad would receive case assistance, travel resources, and other forms of support. Once released, a formal letter known as “declarations of invalidity” would be issued by the president to mitigate the lingering impacts of wrongful imprisonment.
Moreover, CCP officials involved in these detention cases would be declared responsible for gross human rights violations and eligible for sanctions under the Global Magnitsky Act.
“These deliberate assaults on the freedoms and livelihoods of American citizens and their families must end, once and for all—and this critical legislation provides the proper vehicle to do so,” Smith said.
Rep. French Hill (R-Ark.), chair of the House Financial Services Committee, is a cosponsor of the bill.
Eva Fu contributed to this report.
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