United States Attorney Jerome F. Gorgon, Jr., along with Cheyvoryea Gibson, a special agent in charge with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Detroit Division and Marty C. Raybon, Director of Field Operations with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, announced on Tuesday that two people had been "charged in a criminal complaint with conspiracy, smuggling goods into the United States, false statements, and visa fraud."
According to the announcement, the two were smuggling "a fungus called Fusarium graminearum, which scientific literature classifies as a potential agroterrorism weapon. This noxious fungus causes 'head blight,' a disease of wheat, barley, maize, and rice, and is responsible for billions of dollars in economic losses worldwide each year. Fusarium graminearum’s toxins cause vomiting, liver damage, and reproductive defects in humans and livestock."
Who were the two people, you ask? They were 33-year-old Yunqing Jian and her boyfriend, 34-year-old Zunyong Liu of China.
Jian is a a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Michigan and has been working at the University of Michigan's Molecular Plant-Microbe Interaction Laboratory since 2023. Lui works at a Chinese university where he conducts research on the same pathogen.
Last year, Liu, who apparently came to the U.S. on a B2 tourist visa, brought the materials in question, and when asked about them by agents, lied and said he had no idea what they were and that they'd been planted in his bag. Later, he changed his story and said he "hid the samples in his backpack because he knew there were restrictions on the importation of the materials," and he just wanted to come work with his girlfriend. Sure.
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Not only has Jian reportedly "received Chinese government funding for her work on this pathogen in China," but she also allegedly owns electronics that "contain information describing her membership in and loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party."
FBI director Kash Patel told Fox News Digital that the situation "demonstrates a serious national security threat to America's food supply." He added:
This case is a sobering reminder that the Chinese Communist Party continues to deploy operatives and researchers to infiltrate our institutions and target our food supply, an act that could cripple our economy and endanger American lives. Smuggling a known agroterrorism agent into the U.S. is not just a violation of law, it’s a direct threat to national security. I commend the FBI Detroit Division and our partners at CBP for stopping this biological threat before it could do real damage
Gorgon said in his statement, "The alleged actions of these Chinese nationals—including a loyal member of the Chinese Communist Party—are of the gravest national security concerns. These two aliens have been charged with smuggling a fungus that has been described as a ‘potential agroterrorism weapon’ into the heartland of America, where they apparently intended to use a University of Michigan laboratory to further their scheme."
This is terrorism. A Chinese national and Research Fellow at @UMich tried to smuggle a dangerous pathogen into the U.S. that causes liver damage and birth defects. This is why it's CRITICAL we know who is in our country and at our colleges. This could have been much worse. pic.twitter.com/CSUbg9SHv7
— House Committee on Education & Workforce (@EdWorkforceCmte) June 3, 2025
Related: Rubio: We Will 'Aggressively Revoke Visas for Chinese Students'
All of this comes after Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced last week that the State Department, along with the Department of Homeland Security, would "aggressively revoke visas for Chinese students, including those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields."
In March, Rep. Riley M. Moore (R-W. Va.) said, "Every year we allow nearly 300,000 Chinese nationals to come to the U.S. on student visas. We’ve literally invited the CCP to spy on our military, steal our intellectual property, and threaten national security. Just last year, the FBI charged five Chinese nationals here on student visas after they were caught photographing joint US-Taiwan live fire military exercises."
The CCP is one of the greatest threats to our country, if not the greatest threat, and I'm glad the Donald Trump administration is taking these steps to protect our national interests. Let's hope it only ramps up from here.
At PJ Media, we think it's important to share these incidents and shed a light on just what our country is up against after years of lawlessness, especially when it comes to protecting our borders and points of entry.
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