Marking a significant win for national security, ICE arrested Chinese national Ming Xi Zhang in Newark, NJ, for illegally acting as a foreign agent. Zhang, who illegally entered the country in 2000, was convicted in 2024 and sentenced to three years probation for his crimes, which struck some critics as too light a sentence for such a serious crime.
For context, ICE’s strong response, led by Newark Field Office Director John Tsoukaris, aligns with Trump’s comments on the connection between illegal immigration and crimes such as espionage or sabotage. This case aligns with recent warnings from the DHS about China’s spying operations, which operate through internet-connected cameras and other devices.
In any case, while speaking about the case, Tsoukaris said Zhang “Violated the terms of his lawful admission,” and “Any illegal alien conducting activities related to espionage, sabotage or export control against the United States is subject to deportation.”
Reacting to the case on social media, a prominent conservative posted, “Ming Xi Zhang, known as “Sushi John,” the owner of Ya Ya Noodles in Montgomery Township, NJ, was arrested by ICE in Newark on Mar 24. Zhang was convicted in April 2024 of acting as an unregistered agent of the [Chinese] government and sentenced to three years’ probation.”
Adding more details, the user posted, “In May 2021, he pleaded guilty to having served as an agent of China in 2016 without notifying the US Attorney General. Zhang legally entered the US in 2000 but later ‘violated the terms of his lawful admission.'”
Concluding the post, the conservative noted, “Zhang met with [Chinese] security officials in the Bahamas in 2016 and delivered $35,000 to an unnamed individual in New Jersey. He also admitted to twice hosting a 🇨🇳 government agent at his Princeton home that fall. He’s being held at the Elizabeth Detention Center awaiting immigration proceedings.”
In the comments under the April 12 post, conservatives expressed their anger with how long this spy was allowed to operate before he was apprehended. One such comment read, “Exemplifies the degree to which the North American diaspora has been penetrated by #CCPChina’s influence ops. Cases such as this paints a target on the backs of all in the diaspora, in an era when Great Power competition has grown sharp. Regrettably, Chinese America slumbers on.”
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Offering a sobering warning about the danger of Chinese cameras, the DHS stated, “A cyber actor could leverage cameras placed on IT networks for initial access and pivot to other devices to exfiltrate sensitive process data that an actor could use for attack planning or disrupting business systems. A cyber actor could use cameras placed on safety systems to suppress alarms, trigger false alarms, or pivot to disable fail-safe mechanisms.”
Building on this point, the DHS explained, “Broader dissemination of tools designed to help recognize PRC cameras, particularly white-labeled cameras, could tighten enforcement of the 2022 Federal Communication Commission (FCC) ban on the import of these cameras and help mitigate the threat of PRC cyber actors exploiting them for malicious purposes.”