Krishnamoorthi Applauds DHS Announcement to Increase and Expedite Work in Prosecuting Illegal Customs Practices Related to the UFLPA

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Ranking Member Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) commends Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for announcing the enlisting of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and other agencies and offices in DHS to increase and expedite their work in prosecuting illegal customs practices that harm the American textile industry, a key industry impacted by the continued import of products tied to the CCP’s ongoing genocide against Uyghurs and other minorities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

“I want to thank Secretary Mayorkas for announcing his intention to use the full range of tools at the disposal of the Department of Homeland Security to prosecute illegal customs practices and hold accountable any bad actors that use or facilitate forced labor relating to the CCP’s ongoing genocide in Xinjiang,” said Ranking Member Krishnamoorthi. “Our committee’s recent bipartisan letter to DHS called for aggressively increasing the enforcement of potential UFLPA violations to effectively prevent direct and indirect shipments of forced labor goods into the United States, including those exploiting the de minimis provision in U.S. trade law. I am pleased to see this announcement follow these calls for increased enforcement and want to extend my gratitude to Secretary Mayorkas for his leadership on this issue.”

The announcement by Secretary Mayorkas comes less than two weeks after a letter sent by the Select Committee to DHS urging the Department to aggressively step up enforcement of potential violations of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) by goods shipped from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and indirectly through third countries.

Secretary Mayorkas’ decision to direct the agencies to provide him with a comprehensive enforcement action plan in 30 days follows the Select Committee’s request in the aforementioned letter for a response within 45 days. The announcement came following a virtual meeting between Secretary Mayorkas and members of the National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO), a group consisting of large and small companies alike that employ thousands of American workers and create jobs for people throughout the United States. A full readout of the meeting can be found here.

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