Chinese National Convicted of Acting as Spy for China Arrested by ICE Agents

A Chinese national, who was previously convicted of illegally acting as a foreign agent of China, was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.

Ming Xi Zhang, who owns Ya Ya Noodles in Montgomery Township, New Jersey, was arrested by ICE agents in Newark on March 24, according to a press release from ICE. Zhang currently remains in ICE custody while waiting for immigration proceedings.

In April 2024, Zhang was convicted by the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey for “illegally acting as an agent of a foreign government without prior notification to the Attorney General.” Zhang received a sentence of three years probation.

“Any illegal alien conducting activities related to espionage, sabotage or export control against the United States is subject to deportation,” said John Tsoukaris, the field office director for ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations Newark Office.

Per the press release, while Zhang “lawfully entered the United States in June  2000,” he “violated the terms of his lawful admission.”

Zhang’s daughter, Emily Zhang, explained to NJ.com that “authorities had asked” her father “to check in with them and he was arrested when he appeared.”

Emily told the outlet that they were “kind of hoping, waiting for bond” or parole, and added that “customers have been supportive” of her father.

“People have been coming in, offering their phone numbers and asking how they can help,” Emily explained to the outlet.

Per the outlet, the “foreign agent charge” against Zhang “stemmed from April 2016” when he met with “representatives of the Chinese Ministry of State Security on multiple occasions” in the Bahamas:

The foreign agent charge stemmed from April 2016, when Zhang met in the Bahamas with representatives of the Chinese Ministry of State Security on multiple occasions, according to his written plea agreement.

Those agents directed Zhang to obtain $35,000 and provide it to “another individual” who was not named in the paperwork. A month later, Zhang gave the cash as instructed during a meeting in Skillman, the neighborhood in Montgomery where his restaurant is located.

Emily Zhang claimed that her father “had been following the terms of his probation and had not gotten into trouble again,” and added that he is “being held at the Elizabeth Detention Center located in Essex County, according to the outlet.