Uyghur Freedom Institute
May 15, 2025
The Honorable Members of the United States Congress
Washington, DC 20515
Subject: Urgent Request to Re-Enlist Chinese Entity Involved in Uyghur Genocide and Broken Fentanyl Promises
Dear Members of Congress,
I am writing to urge Congress to take immediate action to re-enlist Ministry of Public Security’s Institute of Forensic Science of China, a Chinese government entity, that was previously sanctioned for its direct role in the ongoing genocide and systematic human rights abuses targeting Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslim peoples in the Uyghur homeland (commonly referred to as Xinjiang). The Biden administration lifted these sanctions in late 2023 based on a pledge from the Chinese government to cooperate in curbing the production and export of precursor chemicals used to manufacture illicit fentanyl.
That pledge remains unfulfilled.
Despite the entity’s documented complicity in severe human rights violations—including mass internment, forced labor, coercive surveillance, and cultural erasure—the Commerce Department removed it from the Entity List as part of a diplomatic bargain, hoping to stem the fentanyl crisis that continues to claim tens of thousands of American lives each year. As Politico reported, this concession was made without meaningful guarantees, and nearly two years later, China has failed to deliver on its commitment. (Federal Register Notice – November 17, 2023).
The State Department has rightly declared the treatment of Uyghurs a genocide. To lift sanctions on an entity involved in these crimes, based solely on unverified promises of cooperation, was a grave error in both moral judgment and national security strategy.
This situation raises urgent questions:
- Why was an entity implicated in crimes against humanity removed from the sanctions list?
- Why should the U.S. tolerate empty promises while Uyghur lives are destroyed and American families are devastated by fentanyl?
- What precedent does this set for how the U.S. responds to authoritarian regimes?
I respectfully urge Congress to take the following actions:
- Immediately re-enlist the Chinese entity on the Commerce Department’s Entity List.
- Initiate congressional oversight hearings to investigate the rationale behind lifting sanctions and assess China’s failure to comply with its fentanyl pledge.
- Pass legislation ensuring that U.S. sanctions related to genocide, forced labor, and human rights violations cannot be waived without verified and sustained compliance.
The United States must never compromise justice for diplomacy—especially when lives are on the line, both here and abroad. Holding perpetrators accountable is not just a human rights obligation—it is a matter of national integrity and security.
Thank you for your leadership and continued dedication to defending human rights and protecting American communities.
Sincerely,
Tahir Imin
Founder and Executive Director, Uyghur Freedom Institute
www.uyghurinstitute.org
