I 
119TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 5491 
To encourage diplomatic advocacy efforts on behalf of Americans unjustly 
detained in the People’s Republic of China. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 18, 2025 
Mr. SMITH of New Jersey (for himself, Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI, and Mr. HILL 
of Arkansas) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on the 
Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in 
each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdic-
tion of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To encourage diplomatic advocacy efforts on behalf of Ameri-
cans unjustly detained in the People’s Republic of China. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Nelson Wells Jr. and 
Dawn Michelle Hunt Unjustly Detained in Communist 
China Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
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(1) Nelson A. Wells, Jr., a New Orleans native, 
was arrested in China on drug smuggling charges in 
2014. He was initially sentenced to life imprison-
ment but had his sentence reduced to 22 years in 
2019, leaving him incarcerated until 2041. In 2024 
testimony before the Congressional-Executive Com-
mission on China, Wells’ father recounted that his 
son had traveled to China for a necessary medical 
procedure. While recovering, Nelson met an ac-
quaintance who asked him to carry bags of gifts to 
Japan. He insists he had no idea that those bags 
contained hidden drugs. 
(2) Mr. Wells has reportedly endured physical 
attacks in prison and suffers from debilitating 
chronic pain and acute medical conditions, including 
seizures, severe dental pain, and untreated health 
challenges. 
(3) Dawn Michelle Hunt, originally from Chi-
cago, was also arrested in China in 2014. She was 
sentenced to death with a 2-year reprieve in 2017, 
later commuted to life imprisonment. According to 
her family, she was lured to China by a fraudulent 
sweepstakes offer and arrested when drugs were 
found in handbags given to her by the trip orga-
nizers. Evidence suggests she was unknowingly 
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caught in an elaborate drug trafficking scheme, but 
this evidence was ignored at sentencing. 
(4) In testimony before the Congressional-Exec-
utive Commission on China, Ms. Hunt’s brother de-
scribed the sexual abuse and mistreatment she has 
endured in prison, as well as her severe, untreated 
medical problems, including tumors in her uterus 
and ovaries. 
(5) According to the Foley Foundation, in 
2024, more United States nationals were wrongfully 
detained in China than in any other country. 
(6) The Dui Hua Foundation reports that over 
200 United States nationals are detained ‘‘under co-
ercive measures’’ in China, with limited information 
available about their cases. 
(7) Some of these Americans are subject to so- 
called ‘‘exit bans’’, preventing them from leaving 
China as a means to pressure their relatives or asso-
ciates to return to China to face vague criminal 
charges or settle commercial disputes—disputes in 
which they may not even be personally liable. 
(8) For example, Henry Cai, a businessman 
from California, has been trapped in China since 
2017, unable to return home to his family, due to 
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an ongoing financial dispute in which he claims no 
responsibility. 
(9) Additionally, individuals living in China 
whose family members are United States nationals 
are often detained to influence United States Gov-
ernment policy, to intimidate or punish their rel-
atives for speaking out, or to censor their free 
speech in the United States. 
(10) In 2018, Gulshan Abbas, a retired medical 
doctor, was detained in the Xinjiang Uyghur Auton-
omous Region one week after her sister, United 
States citizen Rushan Abbas, gave a speech in 
Washington, DC, criticizing the Chinese govern-
ment’s treatment of Uyghurs. The United States 
Government has since determined that China’s 
abuses in Xinjiang constitute genocide and crimes 
against humanity. Gulshan was later sentenced to 
20 years on unproven national security charges. 
(11) Dozens of family members of radio free 
Asia journalists have been detained in China, likely 
in an attempt to coerce their United States-based 
relatives to stop reporting on the genocide and other 
human rights abuses in Xinjiang. 
(12) Wang Bingzhang, a democracy activist and 
United States permanent resident, was kidnapped in 
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Vietnam in 2002 and forcibly taken to China, where 
he was sentenced to life in prison—reportedly on es-
pionage charges. He has reportedly spent his entire 
sentence in solitary confinement, while his family 
has been barred from visiting and harassed by Chi-
nese agents for raising his case at a United Nations 
meeting in Geneva. 
(13) Ekpar Asat (also known as Ekber Eset), 
a 
Uyghur 
entrepreneur 
and 
founder 
of 
Baghdax.com—a website that hosted discussions of 
Uyghur human rights and language—was detained 
in China in 2016 after returning from a Department 
of State leadership program. He was later sentenced 
to 15 years in prison. 
(14) The exact number of other United States 
nationals in China who face exit bans, detention 
without due process, or punishment intended to in-
fluence United States Government policies or intimi-
date their family members is unknown, largely due 
to the opacity of China’s judicial system. 
(15) Notably, some countries without prison 
transfer agreements with China have successfully se-
cured the release of their citizens by initiating pris-
oner transfer proceedings under the People’s Repub-
lic of China’s Law of International Judicial Coopera-
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tion in Criminal Matters. France, for example, has 
used this mechanism to obtain the release of at least 
two French nationals. The United States, however, 
has not yet pursued this option. 
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) APPROPRIATE
CONGRESSIONAL
COMMIT-
TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com-
mittees’’ means— 
(A) the Committee on Foreign Relations, 
the Committee on Appropriations, the Com-
mittee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Af-
fairs, the Committee on the Judiciary, the Com-
mittee on Armed Services, and the Select Com-
mittee on Intelligence of the United States Sen-
ate; and 
(B) the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the 
Committee on Appropriations, the Committee 
on Financial Services, the Committee on the 
Judiciary, the Committee on Armed Services, 
and the Permanent Select Committee on Intel-
ligence of the House of Representatives. 
(2) CASE
OF
CONCERN.—The term ‘‘case of 
concern’’ means unjustly detained individuals who— 
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(A) are not designated by the Secretary of 
State as ‘‘wrongfully detained’’ but where cred-
ible information exists that a United States na-
tional detained abroad meets some of the cri-
teria set by section 2(a) of the Robert Levinson 
Hostage Recovery and Hostage-Taking Ac-
countability Act (22 U.S.C. 1741(a)); and 
(B) is the family member of a United 
States national who has been detained to— 
(i) silence, censor, or intimidate a 
United States national because of their ad-
vocacy 
for 
internationally 
recognized 
human rights; 
(ii) silence, censor, or intimidate ef-
forts of a United States national for their 
efforts to publicly report on internationally 
recognized human rights in authoritarian 
or nondemocratic countries; and 
(iii) to influence United States Gov-
ernment policy or to secure economic or 
political concessions from the United 
States Government. 
(3) FAMILY MEMBER.—The term ‘‘family mem-
ber’’ means a spouse, father, mother, child, brother, 
sister, grandparent, grandchild, aunt, uncle, nephew, 
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niece, 
father-in-law, 
mother-in-law, 
son-in-law, 
daughter-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, step-
father, stepmother, stepson, stepdaughter, step-
brother, stepsister, half-brother, or half sister. 
(4) UNITED
STATES
NATIONAL.—The term 
‘‘United States national’’ means— 
(A) a United States national as defined in 
section 101(a)(22) or section 308 of the Immi-
gration 
and 
Nationality 
Act 
(8 
U.S.C. 
1101(a)(22), 8 U.S.C. 1408); or 
(B) a lawful permanent resident alien with 
significant ties to the United States. 
SEC. 4. DIPLOMATIC ACTION PLAN AND CASES OF CON-
CERN DETERMINATIONS. 
(a) DIPLOMATIC ACTION PLAN.—Not later than 60 
days after the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of 
State shall develop the following: 
(1) A list of cases of concern that includes— 
(A) United States nationals detained in the 
People’s Republic of China who have not been 
designated as ‘‘wrongfully detained’’; and 
(B) family members of United States na-
tionals detained in the People’s Republic of 
China for the reasons found in section 3(2)(B); 
and 
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