Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-Glen Cove) commended the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for its recent action to enforce the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA), a bipartisan law he cosponsored in 2021.
The DHS announced the addition of five more Chinese companies to the UFLPA Entity List, bringing the total number of restricted entities to 73.
The UFLPA, which Suozzi helped pass, aims to prevent goods produced using forced labor in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) from entering the United States. Suozzi emphasized the importance of strong enforcement of the legislation, praising DHS for its efforts.
He co-chairs the Congressional Uyghur Caucus and serves on the Committee on Homeland Security, where he continues to focus on addressing these issues.
“This is an important step,” Suozzi said in a press release. “Legislation can only be as strong as its enforcement—I thank the team at DHS for once again demonstrating that the UFLPA has teeth. Likewise, we will continue to do everything we can here in Congress to meet the Chinese Communist Party’s atrocities with decisive action. The important work of the Uyghur Caucus continues, and I won’t rest until we reauthorize, strengthen, and expand upon the UFLPA.”
Suozzi has been a vocal advocate for the Uyghur people and a critic of the Chinese government’s actions in Xinjiang, where evidence has shown systemic human rights abuses, including forced labor, sexual violence, and torture.
“While the Chinese government falsely claims that atrocities against Uyghurs are for ‘counterterrorism’ or ‘poverty alleviation,’ clear evidence, as confirmed by the United Nations in 2022, shows that this program is a systemic effort to erase the Uyghur people and culture through forced labor, sexual violence, torture, forced sterilization, and abortion, and attacks on religious beliefs,” Suozzi said. “This bipartisan legislation holds them accountable and reaffirms our nation’s commitment to protecting human rights and ethical trade practices worldwide.”
