More than 6,000 miles away from my home state of South Dakota, mafias in China are pulling strings and calling the shots on Chinese nationals in America. These mafias are orchestrating shocking criminal activities in America, from human and drug trafficking to fraud and money laundering. As a member of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), it’s become clear through hearings and research that we should never assume China’s motive is pure, right, or good. Their anti-American and anti-freedom approach to governing and global affairs is a root of evil that is spreading throughout the world in subtle yet significant ways. It grows underground, undetected, until it sprouts up in our communities.
At the beginning of 2023, we saw CCP “police stations” exposed in places like Los Angeles, Houston, New York City, Omaha, and around the world. They exist to advance the CCP’s aggressive transnational repression campaign by monitoring Chinese nationals in the U.S. Individuals are harassed, stalked, surveilled, and blackmailed by authorities at the “police station.” They exist to instill fear into citizens and have ultimate control over their lives. Even Chinese citizens who come to the U.S. legally can be threatened or even kidnapped by their government.
Hidden activities by Chinese criminals are increasingly coming to light, such as an illegal marijuana farm in rural Oklahoma that was involved in a murder. To think China is solely invested in drug cartels in America is one-dimensional. China is attacking the health and safety of Americans from every angle. The increase of drugs not only has resulted in hundreds of thousands of American deaths, but it has also caused an increase in crime, like gun violence in local communities. Much of this activity is driven by the CCP’s money laundering schemes which are fueling America’s fentanyl crisis.
China is the ultimate source of fentanyl streaming into our country and is the number one financial source for Latin American cartels that smuggle the drug across our southern border. In the last three and a half years, nearly 55,000 pounds of fentanyl has been intercepted at our borders. That’s enough to kill everyone on earth. While America has seen a significant uptick in death by opioids, specifically fentanyl, there is no fentanyl crisis in China. Why? A report by the Committee found the People’s Republic of China provides direct subsidies to its companies that manufacture fentanyl as long as the drug gets sold outside of China. The report also shows the CCP provides monetary grants and awards to groups and companies who traffic fentanyl. The CCP has no regard for this drug that has destroyed lives, families, and communities. In fact, the CCP promotes it.
I’m a part of the newly-established fentanyl working group within the Committee – a group that seeks to combat the illicit drug and its trafficking in America. Armed with the knowledge gained in the Committee’s report, we seek to explore legislative solutions to confront this immense challenge.
America must open its eyes to the ways the CCP has infiltrated and influenced American lives, and we must be ruthless in our mission to end their organized crimes in America. The Committee is urging the U.S. to provide law enforcement and intelligence officials with the authority and resources they need to stop fentanyl trafficking and money laundering. The U.S. must strengthen sanctions targeting all entities involved in the illicit fentanyl trade. We should also be using trade and customs enforcement measures to restrict fentanyl trafficking and close the regulatory and enforcement gaps that members of the CCP mafias are abusing.
Rep. Johnson serves as South Dakota’s at-large congressional representative. He is a member of the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, the Agriculture Committee, and the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.