TEXAS — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued an executive order Monday targeting a program by the Chinese government that has been used to intimidate Chinese people living abroad and coerce them into returning to China.

What You Need To Know

  • Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday issued an executive order targeting a program by the Chinese government used to intimidate Chinese people living abroad

  • The program, “Operation Fox Hunt,” according to Abbott, has been used to forcibly return Chinese dissidents to China 

  • According to The Associated Press, “Operation Fox Hunt,” is a nearly decade-old initiative that Beijing characterizes as a pursuit of fugitives, including corrupt officials

  • The FBI office in Houston has set up a hotline for people to report abuse and intimidation 

According to a news release from the governor’s office, he has directed the Texas Department of Public Safety to “target and arrest any criminals executing CCP (Chinese Communist Party) influence operations like ‘Operation Fox Hunt’ to forcibly return dissidents to China."

“Operation Fox Hunt” is a nearly decade-old initiative that Beijing characterizes as a pursuit of fugitives, including corrupt officials. U.S. authorities view it, at least sometimes, as an exercise in “transnational repression,” or deploying government operatives to harass, threaten and silence critics living abroad, according to reporting by The Associated Press in June 2023.

China has denied trying to force repatriations through intimidation and says the U.S. is maligning an effort to fight crime.

“The Chinese Communist Party has engaged in a worldwide harassment campaign against Chinese dissidents in attempts to forcibly return them to China,” Abbott said in the release. “Texas will not tolerate the harassment or coercion of the more than 250,000 individuals of Chinese descent who legally call Texas home by the Chinese Communist Party or its heinous proxies.”

“I directed the Texas Department of Public Safety to identify and bring criminal charges against individuals who harass Texans on behalf of this hostile foreign adversary,” Abbott’s statement continues. “We will continue to do everything we can to protect Texans from the unlawful and repressive actions of the Chinese Communist Party.”

Abbott said his order immediately directs DPS to:

  • Identify and charge individuals suspected of crimes relating to exploiting dissidents on behalf of any foreign government
  • Partner with local and federal law enforcement through the Texas Fusion Center to assess the incidents where foreign governments extend their reach beyond their borders to intimidate Texans
  • Discover and document individuals suspected of planning, attempting, or carrying out acts of repression, and by January 15, 2025, provide policy recommendations on how to counter such threats and develop training programs that can be used to identify and report such illicit activity to DPS 
  • Introduce a hotline and update the iWatch Texas Community Reporting System to allow Texans to directly report any sort of suspected acts of oppression or coercion by PRC or CCP actors, or other foreign adversaries against Texans. Texans can report suspicious activity at iwatchtx.org, through the iWatchTexas mobile app, or by calling 844-643-2251. Reporting through any of these channels can be anonymous

The FBI in Houston encouraged Texans who are victims “of PRC (People’s Republic of China) transnational repression” to call it at 713-693-5000.

According to reporting by Spectrum News partner the Texas Tribune, citing an FBI spokesperson, the Houston FBI office has pushed a public campaign to stop the harassment, intimidation and assault of people in the U.S. by foreign governments.

On Tuesday, Abbott issued an executive order that he said will harden the state government from the Chinese government. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.