He fled China’s crackdown on lawyers for America’s rule of law. Now ICE has him

A Chinese human rights lawyer who escaped Beijing’s crackdown on his profession said he came to the U.S. trusting in its rule of law, ahead of a hearing next week that could send him back.

Wu Shaoping, 48, spoke by phone Tuesday to Lancaster Online from the Moshannon Valley Processing Center, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Clearfield County, Pennsylvania, where he is held with about 60 other detainees. He left China in 2019 as authorities moved against lawyers who took on cases for religious and ethnic minorities. He sought asylum in the U.S. a year later, which remains unresolved.

Seeking freedom for himself and other Chinese people, Wu has continued to criticize the Chinese Communist Party. Compared with Chinese prisons that have held some of his friends and former clients, he said U.S. detention was far more bearable — he was, after all, able to speak with his wife and lawyer. However, he stressed that “Many people detained here are not criminals, they are ordinary people.”

Wu’s troubles began last week when he was pulled over in a traffic stop near Mount Holly Springs while driving his Amazon delivery route. Upon being alerted, ICE agents then took him into custody. However, he has no criminal record and has driven for Amazon since last year to support his wife and their teenage daughter. His wife, Li Caoliu, told Lancaster Online that his paycheck had kept the household running, but she is now searching for critical paperwork and helping arrange his defense as the bills pile up.

Meanwhile, his lawyer, John Visher, told The New York Times that he filed for asylum while his tourist visa was still valid, which prevents his deportation until the case is decided. However, a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson alleged that he lacked lawful status, having stayed six years past his visa. Still, he is expected to go through due process.

For Asian American communities tied to China’s diaspora networks, Wu’s detention questions whether even the CCP’s sharpest critics are safe from deportation once their immigration status is scrutinized. Unsurprisingly, his case has alarmed advocates who see him as the kind of dissident Washington has long championed. “He defended some defendants that most lawyers would avoid,” Fengsuo Zhou, executive director of the New York-based Human Rights in China, told the Times.

The case also comes as the Trump administration expands deportations, with the asylum approval rate at about 10% in 2025, as we previously covered. We also reported, though, that Guan Heng won asylum this year after officials tried to deport him, and that Pastor Jin Mingri was freed from Chinese custody after President Donald Trump raised his case with Xi Jinping.

Wu’s hearing is set for Monday.