Bipartisan Lawmakers Join Ranking Member Khanna to Demand Overdue DOJ Report on Labor Trafficking and Illegal Employment Practices Linked to Chinese-Affiliated Auto Part Suppliers

WASHINGTON – Today, Rep. Ro Khanna, Ranking Member of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), alongside Rep. Shontel Brown (OH-11), a Member of the Select Committee, and Republican Reps. Scott Perry (PA-10) and Mike Kelly (PA-16) are calling on the Department of Justice (DOJ) to provide an update on its efforts to investigate labor trafficking, forced labor, and unlawful employment practices involving companies affiliated with the CCP operating in the U.S. auto parts and glass manufacturing industries.

In a letter sent to Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, the lawmakers noted that Congress directed the DOJ to submit a report within 120 days of enactment of the Commerce, Justice, Science; Energy and Water Development; and Interior and Environment Appropriations Act, which was signed into law by President Trump on January 23, 2026. 

The Act includes language directing the DOJ to prioritize the investigation and prosecution of illegal labor practices in American auto parts and glass manufacturing industries, particularly related to corporate entities affiliated with the CCP. That deadline has now passed, and the report has yet to be delivered.

The lawmakers wrote: “As thousands of American workers in the auto manufacturing industry face job loss, companies with ties to the CCP, or affiliated entities of those companies, are expanding their presence in communities across the country. While these companies allege a commitment to domestic employment, credible reports of labor trafficking, forced labor, and unlawful employment practices raise serious concerns that their true intent is not to contribute to the American job market, but to exploit it.”

The letter underscores the urgency of the issue by highlighting recent abuses by CCP-linked entities such as Fuyao Glass in Moraine, Ohio, where in 2024, federal agents uncovered evidence of human trafficking, workers lacking employment authorization housed in unsafe and crowded company-run boarding houses, and financial crimes.

Also in 2024, federal agents searched the headquarters of CCP-linked auto parts manufacturer Qingdao Sunsong in Moraine, located near both Fuyao Glass and a staffing agency tied to Fuyao and a Georgia manufacturer whose owner was arrested in 2025 on labor trafficking charges.

The lawmakers have requested that the Department provide a comprehensive update on its progress in completing the report, including any preliminary findings and a detailed accounting of the investigative and prosecutorial steps taken to date.

“As CCP-linked automotive supply firms or their affiliates continue to expand their presence in the U.S. market, it is critical that the DOJ and its partner agencies rigorously investigate their operations for evidence of violating U.S. trade and labor law,” the lawmakers concluded. “The legal violations enumerated above do not appear to be isolated incidents, but rather evidence of a pattern of systematic abuse by CCP-linked companies or their affiliates operating in the United States.”

Lawmakers request a response from DOJ by no later than June 19, 2026.

Read the letter here.

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