Human Rights Pressure Prompts U.S. to Drop Uganda Deportation Order Against Guan Heng

by Tahir Imin Uyghurian, Dec 21, 2025

Reports of a hearing on Monday, December 15, regarding Guan Heng’s potential deportation to Uganda sparked global mobilization by lawmakers, media organizations, Uyghur and Chinese rights activists, and supporters, including courthouse rallies urging the administration to halt the deportation. Later that week, on Friday, the effort produced results.

The United States has withdrawn its effort to deport Guan Heng, a Chinese dissident who helped document China’s interment camps against Uyghurs , to Uganda, according to his lawyer.

As reported by Reuters, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has informed Guan’s legal team that it will no longer seek his removal to Uganda. Guan, a Chinese citizen-journalist, filmed what he described as detention facilities in the Uyghur homeland before fleeing China. He released the footage after arriving in the United States in 2021 and later applied for asylum.

News outlets including The New York Times, NPR, The Guardian, The Hill, and Reason Magazine published reports and opinion pieces urging the U.S. not to deport Guan Heng.

In an editorial opinion piece titled “Guan Heng’s Fate and American Values,” the Wall Street Journal urged the administration to reconsider the decision.

IPAC welcomed the decision and acknowledged its role in the advocacy campaign:

The World Uyghur Congress also issued a statement urging the U.S. not to deport Guan Heng to Uganda. The statement read:

“The World Uyghur Congress calls on U.S. authorities to immediately suspend all deportation proceedings against Guan Heng and to ensure his asylum claim is adjudicated in full compliance with U.S. refugee law and international non-refoulement obligations. Guan Heng risked his life to expose crimes that the Chinese government sought to conceal. Given the United States’ recognition of the Uyghur genocide, it must not return Guan Heng to the very persecution he helped expose.”

Rayhan Asat, an Uyghur human rights advocate, credited government agencies, journalists, lawmakers, activists, and the public with pressing authorities to reverse the Uganda deportation order.

The newly founded Uyghur-language media outlet, Uyghur Post, also published an article detailing Guan Heng’s situation, highlighting widespread concern among Uyghurs for his safety.

On Monday, several people gathered outside Broome County Jail to protest the detention of 37-year-old activist and documentarian Guan Heng, who supporters say is currently being held there.

Reuters also reviewed a State Department letter sent to an immigration judge that appeared to support Guan’s asylum claim, citing China’s pattern of harassment and retaliation against dissidents and journalists, including those living abroad.

It remains unclear whether U.S. authorities will pursue Guan’s removal to another country. However, his lawyer described the withdrawal of the Uganda deportation order as a positive development. Several U.S. lawmakers have also urged the administration to grant Guan asylum, citing a moral responsibility to protect those who expose human rights abuses in the Uyghur homeland.

China denies allegations of widespread abuses against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities.