Trump’s crackdown on Chinese researchers is China Initiative 2.0, lawyers say

Immigration attorneys and civil rights advocates believe the Trump administration has quietly built what amounts to a revamped China Initiative, operating without the formal name that drew widespread criticism and was shut down under the Biden administration.

Robert Fisher, a former assistant U.S. attorney and partner at Nixon Peabody, a Boston-based international law firm, said at an Asian American Scholar Forum panel Tuesday that law enforcement scrutiny of China-linked academics and researchers had risen sharply. “I think now we are clearly in an era of China Initiative 2.0,” Fisher said. He noted that in most cases, investigations had not yet moved toward formal charges.

Launched in 2018, the original China Initiative was shuttered in 2022 over widespread criticism that it profiled Asian American scientists based on ethnicity. As we previously reported, lawmakers stripped an effort to revive it from a fiscal year 2026 spending bill after 82 civil rights organizations opposed the move. California attorney Clay Zhu, also at the panel, said authorities had moved away from criminal prosecution in favor of a less visible but more effective civil enforcement.

Federal authorities have brought charges against several Chinese researchers at U.S. universities since the beginning of the second Trump administration. Youhuang Xiang, an Indiana University research scholar, was taken into custody at Chicago O’Hare International Airport in November on accusations that he had smuggled E. coli bacteria samples while concealing his Chinese Communist Party membership. He was detained for four months before pleading guilty in April and being deported back to China.

The crackdown drew scrutiny on Capitol Hill as the House Select Committee on China held a hearing on economic espionage and Beijing’s subnational influence on Thursday. Democratic lawmakers said a sweeping approach to China-related enforcement risked unjust discrimination against Asian Americans. Rep. Greg Stanton (D-Ariz.) also noted that the administration had dismantled federal offices responsible for tracking foreign influence. “At a time when Congress is demanding answers as to what our government is doing to counter foreign malign influence, this administration has clearly taken a step in the wrong direction,” Stanton said.

John C. Yang, president and executive director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice, urged lawmakers at Thursday’s hearing to distinguish between targeted enforcement and broad ethnic profiling. “Asian Americans no longer feel safe because of their race or ethnicity,” he said, adding that researchers worldwide are increasingly reluctant to come to the U.S.

A survey by The Asian American Foundation (TAAF) found that one in five U.S. adults already believe Chinese Americans pose a threat to society. Some cases further complicate the picture, such as that of former Arcadia Mayor Eileen Wang, who pleaded guilty last month to acting as an illegal agent of the Chinese government and is now facing up to 10 years in prison. More than ever, it is crucial to recognize the xenophobic and discriminatory rhetoric used to cast out entire communities after alleged actions of a few.