The Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday added three Chinese companies to a list of companies whose products can no longer be exported to the United States, as part of what it described as an escalating crackdown on companies that aid in forced labor programs in Xinjiang.
The companies include seafood processor Shandong Mejia Group, which an investigation by the Outlaw Ocean Project identified as a company employing workers brought to eastern China from Xinjiang — a region in far western China where the government has detained and surveilled large numbers of minorities. Including Uyghurs.
A US official said that another company, Xinjiang Xinhuo Coal and Electric Coal and Power Company, works in the field of processing aluminum, the metal of which can be found in cars, consumer electronics and other products. The third company, Dongguan Oasis Shoes, brought Uyghurs and people from other persecuted groups to its shoe factory in Guangdong, the US government said.
With these additions, 68 companies now appear on the so-called Entity List of companies that the US government says participate in forced labor programs, nearly double the number at the beginning of the year.
Robert Silvers, undersecretary of the Department of Homeland Security and chairman of the committee overseeing the list, said the government is working to accelerate the pace of additions to the list, and the public should expect that to continue.
“We will hold companies accountable if they engage in forced labor practices,” he said.
Industries using cotton and tomatoes were among the first to count the links in their supply chains with fields in Xinjiang. But in recent years, companies that make solar panels, flooring, cars, electronics, seafood and other goods have discovered that they also use components made in Xinjiang.
The United States put the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act into effect two years ago to ban imports made wholly or partly in Xinjiang.
The Chinese government runs programs in the region to transport groups of local residents to factories, fields and mines around Xinjiang and in other parts of China. Authorities say these programs aim to alleviate poverty, but human rights experts say they are often coercive.
The two-year-old law also created the Entity List, a list of companies that US officials have linked to forced labor programs. The government did not initially add many companies to the list despite the announced scope of work programs in Xinjiang.
The list “definitely requires a ramp-up period,” Mr. Silvers said.
“We had no procedures, no staff, no rules of the road to do this work,” he said. He added that the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Law did not include any new funding for the administration. “So we dug deep and pulled resources away from other areas to go toward this priority area,” he said.
Alejandro said. Mayorkas, Secretary of Homeland Security, said in a statement that the department will continue to investigate companies that use forced labor and hold those entities accountable. “We urge stakeholders across industry, civil society and our international partners to work with us to eradicate the scourge of forced labour,” he said.
Last month, the Ministry announced the addition of 26 companies related to the clothing and textile industry to the list. Mr Silvers said the company would announce further additions periodically, once it had evidence that the rating was justified.
Last month, major automakers saw their products stopped at US ports after they were found to be importing part made by a company linked to forced labor in Xinjiang.
