Chinese citizen journalist seeking asylum in U.S. could faces deportation

Washington, D.C., December 18, 2025—The Trump administration’s plan to deport a Chinese citizen journalist—who fled his country in fear of retaliation for his coverage of Uyghur detention camps—is an critical blow to America’s reputation as a haven for asylum-seekers that will cast the country as a conduit of transnational repression, the Committee to Protect Journalists said on Wednesday.

Guan Heng, a 38-year-old citizen journalist from Henan, China, was detained during an August 2025 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raid in New York and is still in the agency’s custody at an unknown location in the state, his lawyer, Chen Chuangchuang, told CPJ on Tuesday. Another hearing for Guan’s removal has been scheduled for January 12, according to news reports, after the Trump administration argued during a Monday hearing that Guan could be sent to Uganda as part of a deportation policy allowing for detainees to be sent to third party countries. According to Chen, deportation to Uganda would almost certainly lead to Guan’s repatriation to China, due to the countries’ strong military and intelligence ties, where he would almost certainly face retribution for his work. 

“It is shameful that the Trump administration would consider deporting Guan to Uganda, putting him at risk of being returned to China where he would undoubtedly face government retaliation for his reporting,” said CPJ U.S., Canada, and Caribbean Program Coordinator Katherine Jacobsen. “The United States used to be a haven for journalists fleeing political retaliation. With Guan’s case, the U.S. is casting itself as a conduit for transnational repression.” 

Department of Homeland Security assistant secretary for public affairs, Tricia McLaughlin, told CPJ in an emailed statement that “ICE encountered Heng Guan while helping the FBI carry out a criminal search warrant,” and that “[a]ll of his claims will be heard before an immigration judge.” Chen told CPJ that Guan’s arrest was collateral, the journalist has no criminal record and he had not engaged in criminal activity.

Guan documented social issues in China on his YouTube channel, including heavy metal pollution and the alleged targeting of Uyghurs, a predominately Muslim group in China’s Xinjiang province. In 2021, Guan identified the likely locations of detention facilities for Uyghurs in China’s Xinjiang province based on a news report and filmed the centers, providing a rare glimpse of the facilities. The 20-minute video was filmed in 2020 and was released in October 2021, after Guan arrived in the United States.

According to CPJ’s data on imprisoned journalists, at least 24 of reporters are jailed in China in relation to their coverage of conditions for the Uyghur ethnic group. 

Guan’s detention comes months following journalist Mario Guevara’s deportation back to his native El Salvador after he was initially detained in connection with journalistic work and transferred to ICE custody, despite being in the country legally at the time of his arrest. The government argued that Guevara’s livestreaming of law enforcement posed a danger to its operations. A habeas brief was filed in Guevara’s case stating that he was wrongfully detained in relation to his deporting; however, his deportation was approved by an immigration judge before the habeas case concluded.