FBI raid on China-born professor 'brings chills to spines' of experts

The recent raid by federal agents on two homes owned by a China-born cybersecurity professor has shocked his community and struck fear through fellow academics.

Xiaofeng Wang had been questioned by his employers at Indiana University in December about alleged undisclosed payments from China for a project that also received U.S. federal research grants, and though he hasn't been charged with any crimes, he was fired on the same day as the raids in an apparent violation of the school's own policy, reported The Guardian.

“I study at the computer science department, and I’ve overheard Chinese professors talking about how worried they are that something similar could happen them, too,” said a Chinese PhD student at Indiana.

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The Department of Justice during the first Trump administration set up the China Initiative to identify and prosecute alleged spies working in the research and development sectors, and the effort, which was widely criticized as racial profiling, was ended in 2022 after a review by the Biden administration.

The FBI and Department of Homeland Security raided two homes owned by Wang, whose attorneys don't expect any charges to be filed.

“Neither Prof Wang nor Ms Ma [his wife, who worked as a library analyst at the same university] have been arrested … further, there are no pending criminal charges as far as we are aware,” said Jason Covert, a lawyer at Taft Stettinius & Hollister, a firm representing Wang and Ma. “They look forward to clearing their names and resuming their successful careers at the conclusion of this investigation.”

Other Asian American academics fear that Trump is taking aim against them.

“[It] brings chills to our spines," said Gang Chen, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “What is particularly troubling in this case is that Indiana University fired him and his wife without due process, presuming guilt instead of innocence."

Chen, who has dual American and Chinese nationality, was charged by the DOJ in January 2021, during the final weeks of Trump's first term, for allegedly failing to disclose links to Chinese organizations on a grant application for a federally funded project, but those charges were dismissed a year later.

“The investigations on Professor Wang and his firing creates huge fear among researchers of Chinese descent, especially students and postdoctorates from China," Chen said. "It is clear that such events, together with legislation and hostile rhetoric, are driving out talents. I learned that many Chinese students and postdoctorates here are considering leaving the U.S.”

More students from China come to the U.S. to study and conduct research than from any other country, but many of them fear the impact Trump's campaign against universities will have on them.

“I’m concerned with President Trump’s hostility against China and this kind of hostility may affect Chinese students and professors, and the funding that we get,” said the PhD student. “I’m concerned about the impact on my life.”