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LAWMAKER: INVESTIGATE US CUSTOMS OFFICER WHO TARGETED SHEN YUN ARTISTS WITH CCP
PROPAGANDA


‘WE SHOULD NEVER ALLOW THE PRC—ONE OF THE MOST REPRESSIVE COUNTRIES ON THE
PLANET—TO HAVE INFLUENCE OVER OUR FEDERAL GOVERNMENT,’ REP. BRIAN BABIN SAYS.

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A U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer at the Miami International Airport
on March 4, 2015. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
By Eva Fu
|
March 13, 2024
Updated:
March 29, 2024


When Teresa Du entered customs at Chicago O'Hare International Airport on March
11, she never expected to be confronted with the same hate propaganda that the
Chinese Communist Party (CCP) uses to persecute religious believers.

Even more concerning is that it came from a U.S. Customs official. Customs
officers are employed by Customs and Border Protection, which is a federal
agency under the Department of Homeland Security.

The officer spoke Chinese with a mainland accent, giving Ms. Du the impression
that he was born in China. To fellow customs officers, he described Ms. Du, a
U.S. natural-born citizen and native to Texas, as “illegal,” based on her
religious beliefs, she says.

Teresa Du, Shen Yun Performing Arts tour manager. (Courtesy of Magnifissance)


Ms. Du is a tour manager for New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts, whose
eight touring groups perform in venues around the world each year. Ms. Du’s
group had just returned from a tour in Europe and was set to next perform in
Rosemont, Illinois.

“They’re Falun Gong. They’re political. They’re illegal,” the customs officer
told his nearby co-workers, referring to Ms. Du and her fellow artists, Ms. Du
told The Epoch Times. He repeated that multiple times, creating a hostile
atmosphere, she said.

Many Shen Yun performers practice Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that’s
severely persecuted in communist China. There, Falun Gong adherents are
subjected to forced labor, torture, and even forced organ harvesting for
persisting in their faith. Being “political” is a propaganda phrase the regime
frequently uses to attack Falun Gong and any other dissidents the party targets
for persecution.

The audience applauds the performers of Shen Yun Performing Arts groups during
the show's curtain call at the Boston Opera House on Jan. 23, 2015. (Edward
Dai/Epoch Times)


Hearing such words uttered on U.S. soil came as a shock to Ms. Du. The ordeal
left her in tears.



Ms. Du says that while the officer was examining her U.S. passport, he spoke to
her in Chinese. She felt uncomfortable, and she eventually switched back to
speaking English.

Then, she says, the officer asked, “Are you being sponsored by Falun Gong?”
After Ms. Du refused to answer the question, he allowed her through.

“I’m an American citizen, and I was born in America. ... I was coming back
home,“ she said. But ”it just felt like I was under verbal attack and verbal
abuse.”

Rep. Brian Babin (R-Texas), a Republican congressman in Ms. Du’s home state,
expressed disbelief upon hearing about Ms. Du’s experience and called for a
“thorough investigation.”



“This is totally inexcusable for this to happen in the United States at the
hands of an American official,” he told The Epoch Times, adding that “the
customs official should be terminated immediately” if the complaint proves
accurate.

“We should never allow the PRC—one of the most repressive countries on the
planet—to have influence over our federal government,” he said, using the
acronym for the People’s Republic of China.

The Epoch Times contacted Customs and Border Protection (CBP) with questions
regarding the officer’s alleged behavior. A spokesperson for the agency told The
Epoch Times that “CBP strictly prohibits profiling on the basis of race or
religion.”

Asked about Mr. Babin’s comments, the spokesperson said that “CBP responds
directly to members of Congress through the appropriate channels.” The spokesman
didn’t respond to a question asking whether the agency is conducting its own
probe into the incident.
Rep. Brian Babin (R-Texas) speaks at a news conference at the U.S. Capitol on
Feb. 14, 2024. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)



‘CALL THEM ALL BACK’

Ms. Du said that the Chinese-speaking officer refused to let her remain in the
vicinity to wait for other artists from her group—even though as tour manager,
she’s responsible for logistics and translation when needed.
“No, don’t ’sir, sir, sir' me. I know what I’m doing. You’re not allowed to come
here,” the officer said as he got up from his chair and “started getting close”
to her, according to Ms. Du. 

“I was a little bit scared. He was being really aggressive toward me,” she said.
“It just felt like it was going to start becoming physical.”

Three other artists with Shen Yun told The Epoch Times that they witnessed the
behavior of the Chinese-speaking customs officer at the airport.

They say that in two cases, while artists were being processed by other customs
officers, the man inserted himself into the process; and in one case attempted
to gather information about the performers’ training facilities in New York.

In another instance, a dancer waiting in the queue heard the officer loudly say,
“These people are Falun Gong.”

Even after the group passed through customs with a delay, Ms. Du said, two
customs agents stopped them at the exit point, saying that they may not be able
to let the group in as it “might be illegal” for them to enter the United
States.

The Chinese-speaking officer, meanwhile, was suggesting to a supervisory agent
to “call them all back.” The superior dismissed that as unnecessary and cleared
the group after some brief questioning.

Travelers collect their luggage at baggage claim after arriving at Chicago
O'Hare International Airport on March 11, 2022. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)



CCP INFILTRATION CONCERNS

The targeting of Chinese dissidents on U.S. soil has long been a concern for
U.S. lawmakers and law enforcement agencies.
Just last year, FBI agents arrested two suspected Chinese agents and charged
them with attempting to bribe a public official with tens of thousands of
dollars in a scheme targeting Falun Gong practitioners in the United States.

John Chen, a 70-year-old U.S. citizen born in China, and Lin Feng, 43, a Chinese
citizen, attempted to “manipulate the IRS Whistleblower Program, through bribery
and deceit,” to strip an entity run and maintained by Falun Gong practitioners
of its tax-exempt status, according to court filings unsealed on May 26.

FBI headquarters in Washington on Feb. 15, 2024. (Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch
Times)


The information they submitted to the IRS was “facially deficient and contains
rhetoric similar to the propaganda that the PRC [People’s Republic of China]
Government uses to justify its subjugation and harassment of Falun Gong
members,” according to the complaint.

The indictments also followed the arrest of two individuals for allegedly
running a secret police station in New York City for Beijing. One of the men,
according to the Justice Department, organized counterprotests in Washington to
oppose demonstrations by Falun Gong practitioners during Chinese leader Xi
Jinping’s U.S. visit in 2015.
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to add more details of the
incident.

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