(Central Pennsylvania, U.S. — July 22, 2026) Chinese human rights lawyer Wu Shaoping, who fled China after years of defending religious believers and other victims of persecution, remains in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody after being detained July 15 during an immigration enforcement action while Wu was delivering Amazon packages.
Wu, 48, is being held at the Moshannon Valley Processing Center in central Pennsylvania, in the northeastern U.S. According to media reports, he was detained while driving an Amazon delivery vehicle in Mount Holly Springs and has no criminal record.
Wu has reportedly complied with U.S. immigration requirements while his asylum case remains pending and is awaiting immigration proceedings. His case has prompted growing appeals from democracy advocates and human rights organizations urging U.S. officials not to deport him to China.
Speaking to local outlet Lancaster Online from the detention center, Wu said that he fled China seeking freedom after authorities targeted lawyers who defended politically sensitive causes. “I came here not only for my freedom but also for the freedom of other Chinese people,” he said.
Numerous overseas Chinese democracy advocates, including Wang Dan, Wang Juntao, and Bob Fu, have called on the U.S. government to release Wu through established legal procedures and not deport him to China under any circumstances, warning he would face severe persecution if returned.
On July 17, U.S. Congressman Jim McGovern, co-chair of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission and former chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, sent a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and Secretary of State Marco Rubio urging Wu’s release.
“(Wu) should be released from ICE detention and freed of the possibility of being sent back to China,” stated McGovern, who represents central Massachusetts in the U.S. House.
Before fleeing China, Wu was widely known within the country’s human rights legal community for representing political dissidents, house church Christians, Falun Gong practitioners, and other vulnerable groups in politically sensitive civil rights and religious freedom cases.
His legal work made him a target of Chinese authorities during the government’s broader crackdown on human rights lawyers.
Wu left China in 2019 after increasing pressure from authorities and later applied for political asylum in the United States. Since arriving, he has continued advocating for human rights and religious freedom in China while speaking publicly about the Chinese Communist Party’s repression.
Texas-based nonprofit ChinaAid has called for Wu’s release, noting that he has been granted authorized stay while his asylum application remains pending.
The organization said deporting Wu to China would likely place him at immediate risk of arrest, lengthy imprisonment, and torture because of the Chinese government’s longstanding persecution of human rights lawyers.