Chinese spies subvert clueless Congress

A Chinese spy scandal is rocking Capitol Hill.

The sordid tale is the stuff of thrillers: a possible sex-for-secrets swap that involved U.S. Representative and House Intelligence Committee member Eric Swalwell (D-Calif) and Chinese national, honey trap spy Fang Fang who entered the U.S. on a student visa in 2011 to attend California State University East Bay. Fang immediately became a political activist, and served as president of the school's Chinese Student Association and Asian Pacific Islander American Public Affairs.

Swalwell may have been over his head with Fang, a skilled seductress who, according to Axios, the FBI had captured on surveillance tapes having trysts with "at least" two Midwestern city's mayors over a three-year period. Fang was a proficient Swalwell fundraiser, aided him in his successful 2014 re-election, and helped place an intern on his congressional staff. A senior U.S. intelligence officer told Axios that Fang "was just one of lots of [Chinese] agents."

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy called for Swalwell's resignation, but Speaker Pelosi has "full confidence" in her fellow California Democrat. Swalwell hasn't seen Fang since 2015 when, aware that the FBI had her on its radar, she abruptly fled.

Breaking at the same time as the Swalwell-Fang scandal came news that the U.S. Attorney's Delaware office is investigating Hunter Biden's taxes, which will probe his China dealings and inevitably uncover the lucrative deals which the president-elect's son benefited from.

Evidence of China's growing infiltration into U.S. national affairs has been obvious since at least 2000, when intelligence officers learned that a staffer in Senator Dianne Feinstein's San Francisco office was reporting directly to China's Ministry of State Affairs. The mole, Russell Lowe, worked with Feinstein for almost 20 years, drove her around in San Francisco and "served as gofer in her San Francisco office and as a liaison to the Asian American community, even attending Chinese Consulate functions for the senator." No charges were brought against Lowe.

When the FBI advised Feinstein of Lowe's China ties, she fired him. But since Feinstein is a Senate Select Committee on Intelligence member, concerns abound about what information Lowe may have gained, and how the senator could have been so easily duped. Since diplomatic relations were opened in 1979, few have profited more from their extensive business dealings with China than Feinstein, and her husband Richard Blum. Feinstein's net worth is estimated at $58 million; Blum, $1 billion.

China is determined to destroy the U.S.'s values, and the Senate is happy to ease its path. Led by Utah Senator Mike Lee and before a near-empty chamber, through unanimous consent, the Senate approved S. 386/ HR 1044, the so-called Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act. The bills will remove the country cap quota, expedite permanent legal status green cards for Chinese and Indian national H-1--visa holders, and continue to displace experienced U.S. tech workers. The legislation will also make it easier for wealthy Chinese nationals to acquire EB-5 citizenship-for-sale visas of which they already receive the majority.

Heroically, Rick Scott (R-Fla.) introduced an amendment that would bar Chinese nationals with ties to the Chinese Communist Party and Chinese Military to apply for green cards. Democrats, and specifically immigration lawyer Zoe Lofgren who represents the California district that includes Silicon Valley, objects to reasonable limits on Chinese access. Lofgren intends to include her original version and ram it through as part of a must-pass omnibus spending bill. In light of recent news about China's easy access to congressional representatives, Americans should demand to know what the rush is to expand Chinese presence in American society. Chinese already represent the largest foreign-born enrollment in U.S. universities.

Big Tech lobbied intensively for these horrible immigration bills, but no public debates or hearings were held. The GOP continues to reward Silicon Valley with endless cheap labor supply even though the Justice Department sued Facebook for anti-American employee discrimination.

Congress should slow down Chinese immigration until a failsafe migration method can be established. Strict national security against an avowed U.S. enemy like China serves all Americans.

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Joe Guzzardi is a Progressives for Immigration Reform analyst who has written about immigration for more than 30 years. Contact him at jguzzardi@pfirdc.org