A federal judge has revoked the US citizenship of a naturalised married couple from China after their 2021 convictions for stealing sensitive medical trade secrets and sharing them with China, the US Department of Justice (DoJ) announced on Tuesday.
On March 30, federal Judge James E. Simmons Jr. of California’s Southern District ordered the denaturalisation of Li Chen and Yu Zhou, ruling their crimes showed a lack of the “good moral character” required for American citizenship.
Chen and Zhou had pleaded guilty in 2020 to conspiracy to commit theft of trade secrets and wire fraud, using the stolen technology for personal profit and to benefit the Chinese government, as per the DoJ release.
The case reflects the DoJ’s stated goal of “maximally pursuing” denaturalisation wherever legally possible, under the second administration of US President Donald Trump.
Where past administrations largely targeted terrorists and human rights violators, the current approach explicitly broadens enforcement to include white-collar crimes like those committed by Chen and Zhou.
“Gaining citizenship after committing serious crimes against the American people is an unacceptable abuse of our immigration system,” US Attorney General Pam Bondi said in the press release.
She added that these latest denaturalisations “illustrate this Department of Justice’s focus on ensuring that citizenship remains a privilege to obtain, not a right to abuse”.
The New York Times reported in December that immigration officers are now expected to refer 100 to 200 cases each month to the Justice Department for possible citizenship revocation, far above the historical average of about a dozen annually.
Chen entered the US in 2007 on an H-1B visa sponsored by Nationwide Children’s Hospital and became a permanent resident in 2011. Her husband, Zhou, followed a similar path and later obtained residency through her. Chen was naturalised in 2016 and Zhou in 2017.
In 2019, the couple was arrested for stealing medical trade secrets tied to exosome isolation – a process used to extract tiny particles released by cells that are crucial for disease research, diagnostics and drug development.
Prosecutors said they used the stolen technology to build business ventures and received funding from the Chinese government, including through the People’s Republic of China’s State Administration of Foreign Expert Affairs, as part of roughly US$1.5 million they obtained from the scheme.
Chen was sentenced to 30 months in prison and Zhou to 33 months, with both ordered to pay more than US$2.6 million in restitution.
The couple will now be placed in the immigration court’s removal proceedings and deported back to China.
“Naturalisation is not a right – it’s a privilege given by the generous people of this nation,” said Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate of the Justice Department’s Civil Division.
“When the generosity of America’s immigration process is abused, our system works to correct such abuse. Full stop.” -- SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
