'The Use of Slave Labor Is Repulsive': DHS Ramps Up War on Chinese Goods From Uyghur Region

The Department of Homeland Security is increasing its scrutiny of Chinese goods that are partially or fully made by forced laborers—specifically the Uyghurs, a mostly Muslim, Turkic-speaking ethnic group from the northwestern region of Xinjiang. Reports indicate that as many as a million have been detained by the Chinese government since 2017.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem posted to social media Tuesday, announcing that the Trump administration is taking action:

America has a moral, economic, and national security duty to eradicate threats that endanger our nation’s prosperity, including unfair trade practices that disadvantage the American people and stifle our economic growth. The Trump administration is taking action.

The use of… https://t.co/cuSlPkW1ab
— Secretary Kristi Noem (@Sec_Noem) August 19, 2025

Noem's tweet continues:

The use of slave labor is repulsive and we will hold Chinese companies accountable for abuses and eliminate threats its forced labor practices pose to our prosperity.

DHS is expanding its crackdown under authority of the 2021 UFLPA Act:

Products like steel, copper, lithium, caustic soda and red dates coming from China are now designated "high priority" for inspection and will come under the microscope by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in line with the Uyghur Forced Labor Protection Act (UFLPA).
Caustic soda, or sodium hydroxide, is an industrial chemical used in everything from aluminum production, paper-making, textiles and soap to petroleum refining. Red dates, a fruit grown in China, are often dried and used in teas and snacks.

Chinese Surveillance Company Complicit in Uyghur Genocide Tapped for Plum UN Gig

The Department is turning away hundreds of millions of dollars of goods that are suspected of having Uyghur labor somewhere in their supply chain:

As of Aug. 1, CBP has stopped 16,700 shipments, worth around $3.7 billion, for further examination under the UFLPA Congress passed in 2022. Of those, around 10,000 shipments worth almost $900 million have been turned away.
Some 144 entities are listed on an entity list under the UFLPA as using slave labor in their supply chains, in sectors like agriculture, batteries, electronics, food additives, metals, plastics and textiles.

6/ The CCP runs a massive forced-labor empire.

Uyghurs in Xinjiang.
Falun Gong prisoners.
Rural migrants in factory camps.

And many are forced into solar-panel production.

That’s the ugly truth of the “green revolution.” pic.twitter.com/npqpDkNL1r
— Rod D. Martin (@RodDMartin) August 19, 2025

U.S. Customs and Border Protection describes the act and what it does on its official website:

The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, or UFLPA, was signed into law as the U.S. response to the Chinese government's systemic use of forced labor against Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) in the People's Republic of China. The UFLPA (Public Law No. 117-78), directs the Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force to develop a strategy for supporting enforcement of the prohibition on the importation of goods into the United States manufactured wholly or in part with forced labor in the People's Republic of China, especially from the XUAR.

CBP enforces the rebuttable presumption that goods mined, produced, or manufactured wholly or in part in the XUAR, or by an entity on the UFLPA Entity List, are prohibited from U.S. importation under 19 U.S.C. § 1307.

The phrase "rebuttable presumption" means that a product connected to Xinjiang is assumed to involve forced labor unless the producer can prove otherwise.

It’s unclear whether these actions will do much to change the behavior of the Chinese Communist Party and President Xi Jinping—but it’s the right thing to do to hit them in the wallet where it hurts. As Noem said, forced labor is indeed “repulsive.”

Editor’s Note: Thanks to President Trump and his administration’s bold leadership, we are respected on the world stage, and our enemies are being put on notice.

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