WASHINGTON, D.C. — A man and a woman who entered the United States illegally three decades ago were arrested by the Department of Homeland Security after their children brought an explosive device to a military base, The Daily Wire can first report.
Qiu Qin Zou and Jia Zhang Zheng illegally entered the United States in the ’90s, were denied asylum, but remained in the country for several decades, The Daily Wire has learned. They had two children as they illegally resided in the country — Ann Mary Zheng and Alen Zheng.
Last week, the Department of Justice charged 27-year-old Ann Zheng with her part in attempting to explode an IED at MacDill Air Force Base Visitor’s Center in Tampa. She was arrested as she returned to the United States from China, where authorities believe her brother remains.
DHS arrested the duo’s parents on March 18 for illegal entry.
Qiu Qin Zou and Jia Zhang Zheng remain in ICE custody. They had applied for asylum in 1993 but their applications were denied by an immigration judge, who ordered their removal from the U.S. in 1998. DHS says that the Board of Immigration Appeals repeatedly denied their attempts to have their case reopened. Despite this, they remained in the United States for decades.
The arrests come as the Supreme Court mulls President Donald Trump’s executive order banning birthright citizenship.
“Automatically granting citizenship to children of illegal aliens born in the U.S. is based on a historically inaccurate interpretation of the Citizenship Clause and poses a major national security risk,” argued Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis.
“That reality became apparent last week when two U.S.-born children of Chinese illegal aliens were indicted for planting a potentially deadly explosive device outside MacDill Air Force Base in Florida,” Bis explained. “This incident underscores the severe national security threat that illegal immigration and birthright citizenship pose to the United States.”
DOJ said in a release that both Ann Zheng and her brother had “attempted to damage government property by fire or explosion” and that Ann Zheng helped her brother “in order to hinder and prevent his apprehension, trial, and punishment.”
Ann Zheng is also charged with “corruptly altering, destroying, mutilating, and concealing a 2010 black Mercedes-Benz GLK 350 with the intent to impair its integrity and availability for use in the federal prosecution of Alen Zheng.”
