{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.schiff.senate.gov/news/press-releases/news-schiff-joines-markey-and-budd-to-introduce-bipartisan-resolution-condemning-chinas-wrongful-detention-of-american-academics/", "NEWS: Schiff Joins Markey and Budd to Introduce Bipartisan Resolution Condemning China\u2019s Wrongful Detention of American Academics", "2026-09-17", "2026", "2026-09", "Democrat", "Senate", "CA", "Adam B. Schiff", "S001150", "www.schiff.senate.gov", "schiff", "https://www.schiff.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/", "scraper", "Washington, D.C \u2013 U.S. Senator Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) joined Senators Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Ted Budd (R-N.C.), and John Curtis (R-Utah) in introducing a bipartisan resolution that condemns the People\u2019s Republic of China\u2019s repeated pattern of arbitrary or wrongful detention of American academics and urges the United States government to prioritize the safe return of all United States citizens wrongfully detained in China, including Massachusetts resident and academic Dr. Youlin Chen, and American scholar Min Zin. Congressman Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.-08) and Congressman John Moolenaar, Chairman of the House Select Committee on China (R-Mich.-02), led a companion resolution in the House of Representatives.\n\nThe resolution expresses that the Senate:\n\nCondemns the People\u2019s Republic of China\u2019s repeated pattern of arbitrary or wrongful detention of United States citizens.\n\nUrges the United States government to make the safe return of United States citizens detained in China a top priority, including the return of Dr. Chen and Min Zin.\n\nUrges the Secretary of State to use all available tools to press for the release of all United States nationals being unlawfully or wrongfully detained in the People\u2019s Republic of China.\n\n\u201cChina\u2019s repeated and cruel pattern of wrongful detentions of American citizens, leaving some without access to legal counsel, is nothing short of an affront to the rule of law and infringes on their rights and freedoms. The U.S. government must redouble its efforts to ensure U.S. citizens unjustly detained abroad, like Min Zin and Dr. Chen, return safely back home to their loved ones,\u201d said Senator Schiff.\n\n\u201cThe wrongful detainment of innocent civilians is never justifiable and should always be condemned in the strongest possible terms. We owe it to the American people to stand up and speak out when our citizens are wrongfully detained in foreign prisons. It is my hope that this bipartisan resolution from the United States Congress will bring increased attention to the unjust detention of Dr. Youlin Chen and Min Zin and force the Chinese government to do the right thing and release them immediately. I am praying for Dr. Chen, Mr. Zin, and their families today,\u201d said Senator Markey.\n\n\u201cThe Chinese Communist Party\u2019s pattern of unjustly detaining innocent Americans on baseless allegations cannot carry on unchecked. It is long past time for the CCP to return American academics Dr. Youlin Chen and Mr. Min Zin home to their loved ones and end the targeting of American citizens. I am proud to stand with Senator Markey and my colleagues, as a bipartisan front, against these escalatory actions,\u201d said Senator Budd.\n\nCongressman Lynch said:\n\n\u201cI am proud to join my colleagues in introducing a bipartisan and bicameral Resolution denouncing China\u2019s use of arbitrary and unlawful arrests of U.S. citizens. Dr. Youlin Chen, a good man and respected seismologist and geophysicist who has made Boston his home, was arbitrarily arrested on fabricated \u2018espionage\u2019 charges nearly two years ago. Similarly, Min Zin, a Myanmar scholar and executive director of the Myanmar Institute for Strategic and Policy Studies, has not been heard from his family since he was detained in June for \u2018espionage and endangering national security.\u2019 Ironically, these two men were in China to engage in academic exchanges that benefit both our countries. They were doing honest and noble work and should never have been detained.\n\n\u201cThese men are being held under brutal and inhumane conditions, with no access to their families and limited access, if any, to legal counsel. There has yet to be any evidence presented to justify these charges, much less an opportunity to prove their innocence.\n\n\u201cMy office has been communicating with the family of Dr. Chen and Min Zin, and we will continue to work with our Republican colleagues in the House and Senate to bring these men home to their families. President Trump must use his upcoming meeting with President Xi to demand that China release every unlawfully detained American. The reprehensible use of our citizens as diplomatic bargaining chips is not new for the Xi government, and Congress must continue to press for the release of every American that China is unlawfully detaining.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe Chinese Communist Party has unjustly detained Americans for years, holding them as hostages to bully and coerce our government. The wrongful detentions of Youlin Chen and Min Zin are especially egregious as they were lured to China under the false pretense of academic research. American professors and researchers must realize the CCP is not interested in an open exchange of ideas. They should reconsider any collaborations with China as well as any travel to the country,\u201d said Chairman John Moolenaar of the Select Committee on China.\n\n\u201cNo American should ever be used as a political bargaining chip. The Chinese Communist Party\u2019s ongoing pattern of arbitrarily detaining U.S. citizens, including scholars like Min Zin and Dr. Chen, is an egregious abuse of human rights and direct security threat,\u201d said Congresswoman Kim. \u201cAs Chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs East Asia and Pacific Subcommittee, I\u2019m proud to join this bipartisan, bicameral resolution to send an unmistakable message: Congress stands united against CCP repression, and we will not rest until every wrongfully detained American is brought safely home.\u201d\n\nThe PRC has a long history of detaining U.S. citizens under dubious circumstances. Most recently, on November 5, 2024, the Government of the PRC arrested Dr. Youlin Chen, a United States citizen, who has conducted transparent and open-source seismological research in cooperation with academics in the PRC. Despite high level engagement between the United States and the People\u2019s Republic of China, the Government of the PRC has held him on baseless espionage charges for more than 600 days without a trial or access to his family. In addition, Dr. Chen was deprived of access to his lawyer for the first 434 days of his ongoing detention. In July, Senator Markey released a statement on the wrongful detention of Dr. Chen.\n\nOn June 3, 2026, authorities of the PRC detained another United States citizen, Min Zin (executive director of a Myanmar-focused policy think tank), at the Kunming Changshui International Airport after he was invited to attend an academic event at a university in Yunnan province in the PRC. Min Zin remains in detention without access to legal counsel.\n\n###", 1, "2026-09-18T09:27:43Z", "2026-09-18T09:29:09Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.schiff.senate.gov/news/press-releases/news-schiff-joines-markey-and-budd-to-introduce-bipartisan-resolution-condemning-chinas-wrongful-detention-of-american-academics/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9218128398060799, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}