(Minghui.org) On October 2, 2020, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued an update of its policy guidance “to address inadmissibility based on membership in or affiliation with the Communist or any other totalitarian party.”
More specifically, Section 212 of the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act stipulates that “Any immigrant who is or has been a member of or affiliated with the Communist or any other totalitarian party (or subdivision or affiliate thereof), domestic or foreign, is inadmissible.”
This move is part of a global trend of leaders rejecting the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), a movement that has gained momentum over the past few months. The U.S.’s tightened implementation of a law that has existed since decades ago means that Communist Party members cannot immigrate to the United States or naturalize as U.S. Citizens.
The new guideline requires strict implementation of federal immigration laws, indicating that CCP members who wish to immigrate to the United States would be refused entry, and even if they are already in the United States, they may not be able to apply for a green card. This is a continuation of the U.S. government’s increased scrutiny of immigration applications by the CCP members in recent years.
This May, the U.S. canceled visas of Chinese students and researchers directly related to the CCP’s military universities and expelled them from the country. This operation involved thousands of Chinese citizens.
On July 14, U.S. President Donald Trump signed the Hong Kong Autonomy Act. The State Department then put forward a list of Chinese and Hong Kong officials involved in the persecution of the Hong Kong people and imposed visa and economic sanctions on them. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the “State Department will impose visa restrictions on certain employees of Chinese tech companies like Huawei, that provide material support to regimes engaging in human rights violations and abuses globally.”
On September 9, the U.S. State Department stated that the U.S. administration had revoked visas of more than 1,000 Chinese citizens in order to restrict the entry of Chinese students and researchers associated with the Chinese military into the United States. So far, the U.S. has arrested six Chinese military researchers suspected of visa fraud or theft of American technology, including those who concealed their military identities.
On the same day, Department of Homeland Security Acting Secretary Chad Wolf gave the annual State of the Homeland Address. In the section of Economic Security and China, he said, “We are blocking visas for certain Chinese graduate students and researchers with ties to China’s military fusion strategy to prevent them from stealing and otherwise appropriating sensitive research.”
The new U.S. policy specifically targets the CCP, including members of the Party’s youth organizations. It will affect not only CCP officials and businessmen but also the younger generation of “little pinks,” young people who are deeply brainwashed by the CCP and try to influence the mainstream conversations both inside and outside of China).
A recent case shows that the policy has already been acted upon. Not long ago, the father of a U.S. citizen applied for a green card. After his application was rejected because he was a member of the CCP, he tried to enter the U.S. on a tourist visa, but his visa was canceled at the airport and he was deported on the spot.
Legal scholars say this may be the first application of the latest U.S. policy to curb the entry of CCP members. The case also serves as another wake-up call for the Chinese people to quickly make a clear break with the CCP and withdraw from the party and its affiliated organizations.
This policy change has become a major issue for many people in the Chinese community as they start to think about how to withdraw from the CCP to avoid sanctions by the U.S. so that their family members won’t be impacted by the new restrictions.
In fact, as early as June 2019, Minghui.org published a notice that the U.S. government would strictly review visa applications and refuse to issue visas to violators of human rights and religious freedom, and that those who have been granted visas (including immigrant visas) might also be refused entry.
The 2004 book Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party describes the CCP as an evil specter that endangers the entire humankind. The CCP has now been recognized and opposed to by more and more people around the world. It is especially the case for those in democratic countries that uphold fundamental human rights, freedom of speech and freedom of belief.
Because CCP members all have to raise their fists and swear to dedicate their lives to the CCP when they join the Party, it is extremely important that they undo their vow by making a statement to sever ties with the evil CCP so as to have a bright future.
As the number of people wanting to quit the CCP surges, the U.S.-based Global Service Center for Quitting the CCP launched an online service on August 18 to for people to obtain a “Certificate of Quitting the Chinese Communist Party & All Its Affiliated Organizations.” Such certificates are recognized by the U.S. government and many democratic countries as legal supporting documents in their handling of immigration applications, and they can also serve as evidence to support certificate-holders when the CCP falls and its members are held accountable for its crimes.
Chinese students and overseas Chinese associations need to take notice that the U.S. restrictions are consistent with the principle that “the CCP does not represent China,” which clearly distinguishes the CCP from the Chinese people.
However, it is also true that under the CCP’s one-party dictatorship, overseas Chinese associations have long become the CCP’s pawns in its United Front campaigns. In 2016, the CCP Central Office required the Western Returned Scholars Association to establish a CCP organization within the association and make the “underground party” public, with Chinese students carrying out the united front work in the open. Therefore, members of such associations have also become targets of the new U.S. policy.
Since the beginning of this year, due to the CCP's deliberate cover-up and disinformation about the coronavirus, the infection has ravaged the whole world with more than 34 million infected and more than a million having lost their lives. Even so, the CCP tried to portray itself as a savior and exploited the pandemic crisis to advance its global hegemony through economic, network and diplomatic strategies. It attempted to further expand its power through provocation, military exercises and threats. All these have made it increasingly isolated in the international community.
On July 23, U.S. Secretary of State Pompeo gave a speech on America’s relationship with China at the Nixon Library in Orange County, California. In particular, he addressed China’s threat and called on the world to unite in dealing with the new challenges posed by the CCP. He said “the biggest lie the CCP tells is to think they speak for 1.4 billion people who are surveilled, oppressed, and scared to speak out.”
He promised that America would not allow the CCP to continue to kidnap the Chinese people and that America would lead the free world, stand firmly with the Chinese people and defeat the CCP’s tyrannic dictatorship with joint efforts. “Securing our freedoms from the Chinese Communist Party is the mission of our time, and America is perfectly positioned to lead it because our founding principles give us that opportunity,” he said.
So far, 28 countries have enacted or are preparing to enact laws similar to the U.S. Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, which denies visas to human rights abusers and freezes their assets.