Here’s the best news of the day, and about immigration believe it or not: On Wednesday a judge granted asylum to Guan Heng, the Chinese man who risked his life to expose the Communist Party’s human-rights abuses.
We’ve been telling readers about the plight of Mr. Guan, whose asylum claim is as strong as it gets. The 38-year-old read about Chinese ill treatment of the ethnic Uyghurs from foreign sources on the internet, and he traveled to Xinjiang province at great personal risk to see for himself.
He gathered photographic evidence of the re-education and detention camps where the Communist Party imprisons Uyghurs.
Mr. Guan then risked his life to make it to the Americas.
After fleeing China via Hong Kong, Ecuador and the Bahamas, he set sail in October 2021 for Florida on a flimsy inflatable boat, scheduling the online release of his evidence in case he didn’t make it to shore. Shortly after his arrival he requested asylum, and the U.S. granted Mr. Guan a legal work permit in 2022 while his asylum claim was pending.
Yet Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested Mr. Guan in August after encountering him by chance, and he’s been in a jail in upstate New York since.
Mr. Guan would face imprisonment or worse back home, where Chinese authorities have harassed and threatened his family. Beijing would seek to extradite or kidnap him if he were deported to a third country.
The Department of Homeland Security says its immigration crackdown has focused on the worst criminal migrants, but its treatment of Mr. Guan is one example of how its enforcement has been far more indiscriminate.
Despite the merits of his case, DHS never supported his asylum claim. Even after Wednesday’s ruling in his favor, Mr. Guan still hasn’t been freed from detention as DHS is reserving the right to appeal.
Mr. Guan could be released immediately if DHS backs off, but he may have to wait until the government’s 30-day appeal window is over. The bureau’s bloody-mindedness even after Mr. Guan’s case was widely publicized is further proof that DHS needs new leadership.
Thanks to Judge Charles Ouslander for his asylum ruling, which shows the U.S. can still be a beacon for liberty and a refuge for dissidents from the world’s cruel authoritarians.
