Wu Shaping walks out of immigrant detention center, his foot surveillance ring is still recording his journey

Wu has already returned to his home in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, but every time he leaves, he still needs to carry an electronic footprint installed by the U.S. immigration law enforcement.

The 48-year-old Chinese human rights lawyer called it “electronic bullshit.”

On July 29, he was interviewed by local public media WITF outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office in York County. Release did not allow him to restore his life before his detention. Monitoring equipment was fixed on his ankle, and he needed permission to leave Pennsylvania, and was also worried that the other person saw the device and mistakenly considered him a criminal criminal (WITF).

Nine days ago, he was also detained at the Mohan Valley Immigration Treatment Center.

On July 15, Wu was interrupted by police while delivering the Amazon package in the county of Cambern. His lawyer said he presented a political asylum application and a work permit awaiting to be processed to police officers, and the police then notified immigration law enforcement and sent him to the detention center. Human rights organization "Lawyer for Lawyer" confirmed that he was later allowed to be released with a bail of $1,500, but the relevant immigration process has not yet ended.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security told the media that Wu Xiaoping had delayed residence after entering tourist visas and entered immigration law enforcement procedures according to law. Wu Xiaoping's lawyers argue that he had filed an asylum application before the visa expired and was allowed to work during the waiting period. The focus of disputes between the two sides will continue to be handled by immigration procedures.

These legal statuses can be summarized in documents as visa periods, asylum applications and work permits, falling to Wu Shaoping, but relating to whether he could be sent back to a country that had forced him to flee.

Following the 709 Lawyer’s Great Arrest in Shanghai in the early years, Wu Xiaoping gradually engaged in human rights cases to provide legal assistance to parties under political and religious persecution. In 2019, he left China and entered the United States; he filed a political asylum application in 2020 and is still waiting for results.

In the United States, he did not continue to practice as a lawyer, but sustained his family life by delivering packages.

Wu Shaping has no criminal record. He said in an interview that he did not intend to escape and that his wife and children lived here.But electronic surveillance turned his release into a conditional freedom: he could go home but could not escape the immigration agency’s ongoing tracking; he could continue to wait for an asylum decision without knowing whether it would eventually lead to a legal residence or a deferral procedure.

A group of lawyers is concerned about Wu Shaping’s case because the U.S. is not dealing with an ordinary case with only late residence records.Human rights cases in its past, ties with Chinese civil society, and public activities will affect the risk assessment after deportation.A lawyer is a lawyer who requires the U.S. to abide by the non-refoulement principle and must not be sent back to China until it is confirmed that he will not be subject to political imprisonment, torture or other serious persecution.

There is currently no evidence that the Chinese government has requested the U.S. to detain Wu Xiaoping.The U.S. immigration law enforcement agency has carried out the detention and electronic surveillance, and the case should first be reviewed within the U.S. immigration law framework.

But the surveillance ring at Wu Shaoping's foot exposed a crack in the asylum system: applicants may have lived in the United States for years, have a family, have a job, have a work permit, but still have no judgment due to a delay in applying, and suddenly lose their freedom after a regular traffic check.

The doors of the detention center were opened for Wu Shaping on July 24.Whether he could really get rid of the device he only called “electronic crack,” depends on a six-year asylum procedure that has not yet given an answer.