A prominent member of Brooklyn’s Chinese community believes she was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents for speaking to Documented and other outlets about her experiences of being targeted by the FBI.
Yibing Wang, a founder of Chimerica Women Association, a hometown organization to empower women from Taishan like herself, was arrested by ICE agents at her Brooklyn retail store on Oct. 3.
Calling from a payphone from an immigration detention center in Louisiana where she is detained, Wang told Documented that she believes her arrest and the harsh treatment afterward are retaliation from the federal government for not being helpful to the FBI in its investigation into the Chinese government attempting to influence political leaders and targeting dissidents in New York.
Last week, Wang was granted a $5,000 bond by an immigration judge, which was immediately appealed by the ICE prosecutors. Wang’s lawyer said the appeal was “extremely unusual” and would keep her detained. “I have been practicing immigration law for 35 years, and I have never seen this before,” Edward J. Cuccia, her attorney, said.
She said she believes her arrest and ICE’s appeal to bond being granted were not simply immigration issues. “It’s personal retaliation against me,” she said in Mandarin, because “I exposed them (the FBI’s actions) to the media.” Wang emphasized that a judge had dismissed her removal proceedings in September. “The court’s order was ignored,” said Wang. “They have impaired the legal system in the U.S.”
In early 2023, she was approached by two FBI agents and their translator, who questioned her about her relationship with the Chinese consulate and participation in protests against Taiwan independence.
Wang shared her experience with the media, including Documented. When she was arrested early this month, she said she recognized an FBI agent who had visited her store and interviewed her in 2023, at the scene. Documented is not able to verify this claim independently.
While the Trump administration has enacted a new policy in July to prohibit judges from setting bonds for immigrants who have crossed the border illegally, an appeal to a bond granted to someone entering with documentation and without a criminal record is rare.
When the judge asked about the basis of their objection, “ICE attorneys just said Ms. Wang is out of status,” Cuccia recalled. He added that Wang had been treated “extremely harshly” by the system.
China has been tightening its grip on overseas Chinese in recent years, and several Chinese immigrants in New York have been charged with or pleaded guilty to working as illegal agents for China. Lu Jianwang and Chen Jinping, two Fujianese community leaders, were arrested in 2023 for establishing a clandestine police outpost for China at their office in Chinatown. Linda Sun, who was accused of working to advance China’s interests when she was an aide to Governor Kathy Hochul, was arrested last year together with her husband Chris Hu. Chen has pleaded guilty, and Lu’s trial is expected to start next Spring. Sun and Hu’s trial is likely to begin in a few months.
But no one has proved that Wang has committed any wrongdoing, nor has anyone charged her with a crime.
Wang entered the U.S. on a tourist visa in 2017. A previous marriage-based green card application was dropped when the marriage collapsed. She remarried a U.S. citizen in the summer of 2023 and filed another marriage-based green card application, which , after a delay due to incomplete documents, is moving forward now. An interview could be imminent, and if that is approved, Wang’s immigration troubles should be cleared, said Cuccia.
In September 2023, Wang went to 26 Federal Plaza for an interview that was initiated by immigration authorities. She was handed to FBI agents, who first visited her store earlier that year, not long after the interview began, and was grilled for several hours regarding her interactions with the Chinese consulate and her political views on Taiwan independence, a thorny topic in the US-China relationship. She was placed in removal proceedings based on her expired immigration status afterwards.
At a hearing in mid-September this year, a judge dismissed the proceedings, allowing her to stay in the U.S. to wait for the decision on her green card application. But on Oct. 3, she was arrested by armed ICE agents at the store she ran in Brooklyn.
Wang has hosted the Chinese consulate’s passport renewal events in the community and has participated in protests against Taiwan’s political leaders. Her organization has also hosted numerous cultural events and organized food donations and medicine deliveries for people in need during the pandemic. After her arrest, Councilmember Susan Zhuang and several other elected officials sent support letters to the court, highlighting her contribution to the community.
“ICE should have focused on arresting criminals,” Zhuang said. “But now they don’t give you any chance, no matter if you are a good person or a bad person.”
A spokesperson of ICE didn’t address whether the agency’s appeal to Wang’s bond granting is uncommon. Appeal decisions are made “on a case-by-case basis,” she said in an email. The spokesperson referred the question regarding the possible connection between Wang’s arrest and her China-related allegations to the FBI, but emphasized, “If the individual is detained by ICE, they are an illegal alien. That is sufficient for an arrest.”
The FBI hasn’t responded to Documented’s inquiries by press time. An auto reply from the agency cited the government shutdown for reduced capacity in dealing with media inquiries.
Read more: ‘This is Lawless Terror’: Chinatown Reacts to ICE’s Street Vendor Raid on Canal Street
In New York City’s Chinese community, both Wang’s sympathizers and antagonists seem to have largely associated her arrest with her targeting by the FBI. A community leader who insisted on remaining anonymous said Wang’s arrest would send another round of chills among Chinese immigrants who are already confused about how to interact with their home country.
A commentary published in the Chinese language newspaper World Journal, written by its staff, highlighted Wang’s arrest to call for Chinese community leaders to swear off the transnational manipulation of the Chinese Communist Party.
The news also triggered debates among its readers on social media. “Living in one country and talking about your former country all the time, of course, you’d be arrested,” said one. “Would illegal immigrants who hate their former countries not be arrested?” quipped another.
Chung Dick, executive director of Kings County Conservative Party, who has known Wang for many years, said he doesn’t believe Wang was targeted by ICE because of her political stance, but the FBI may have done ICE a favor. “Her file is already there, including her immigration status and the address of her store,” said Dick. Wang’s interactions with the Chinese consulate seem to be normal for an immigrant community leader, he added.
Zhuang, the councilmember, said it would be “very dangerous” if immigration law is weaponized to punish people whose views do not fit in the political climate. “America would be in white terror,” said Zhuang. “Eventually, everyone would be affected.”
你知道吗？非公民办理驾照时的这个错误可能会导致选民欺诈
At the detention center, Wang is waiting for her fate in a mood pendulating between resignation and despair. Breakfast starts at 5 a.m., and bedtime is 9 p.m. She shares a cell that holds 72 women in rows of bunk beds. Wang said she couldn’t sleep well at night. She developed a persistent stomachache not long after she was detained and says she has lost 40 pounds since. Some of her cellmates have been detained for several months. Wang said a Chinese woman in her cell has been sitting there all the time without sleeping. “I think she is on the verge of a breakdown,” Wang said.
The only thing that makes Wang happy is that her 18-year-old son seems to have grown up overnight since her arrest. “He and my husband didn’t talk much before, now they are taking care of each other,” said Wang. But her husband, an Uber driver, doesn’t have time to attend to the store. It remains closed in her absence.
