Guan Heng, a Chinese whistleblower detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in August, was granted asylum by an immigration judge last Wednesday. After being transferred to another facility, he was released on Tuesday.

At a Jan. 28 hearing in Napanoch, New York, Ulster County Judge Charles M. Ouslander ruled that Guan was a credible witness and affirmed his eligibility for asylum after denying him bail in December. Guan was held at the Broome County Jail for about five months after he was arrested by ICE while they executed a search warrant for other tenants in his residence.

“We did not call any other witness except Mr. Guan himself,” Chuangchuang Chen, Guan’s lawyer, said in an interview with Pipe Dream. “The judge found that Mr. Guan testified credibly and he has very strong supporting documents.”

Guan fled China after allegedly filming the Chinese Communist Party’s “reeducation camps,” where over one million Uyghurs have been imprisoned since 2017. The U.S. government has classified this treatment as genocide since January 2021.

After filming the camps, Guan travelled to Hong Kong, before heading to Ecuador and then the Bahamas to publish the footage without fear of retaliation from the Chinese government. He released much of the footage in an Oct. 2021 YouTube video before traveling to Florida by boat to seek asylum in the United States.

Guan initially faced the threat of deportation to Uganda through a process known as “third country removal,” which refers to the deportation of a noncitizen to a country other than the individual’s place of origin, but the Department of Homeland Security dropped the proposal on Dec. 19. That month, the U.S. House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party reported that Guan faced “grave danger” if deported.

“The judge believed that Mr. Guan proved, both subjectively and objectively, that his fear, going back to China to be suffered by the Chinese government, is reasonable,” Chen said.

Chen explained that following the DHS announcement, Guan’s father was approached for interrogation by the Chinese government, who had planned to capture Guan upon his release in Uganda.

China currently imprisons more journalists than any other country in the world, with at least 114 reporters behind bars, according to Reporters Without Borders. The country is ranked 178th out of 180 countries in the 2025 RSF World Press Freedom Index, which compares the level of journalistic freedom in countries based on political, sociocultural, economic and legal factors.

During the asylum hearing, Chen asked Guan about why he recorded the camps in China, particularly if he hoped that his actions would lead to him being granted asylum. Chen explained that he asked this question because he anticipated that opposing counsel would want to hear Guan’s response.

“When he took the video back in 2020, he had no intention to come to the U.S. at all,” Chen said. “At that time, his sole purpose was to take record of the human rights abuse happening in China. Mr. Guan, at that time, did not anticipate that he would finally come to the United States.”

Following the judge’s decision to grant him asylum, Guan was transferred to a facility in Batavia, New York last Thursday. The U.S. government has until Feb. 27 to file an appeal, during which Guan was expected to remain in custody.

According to Andrew J. Pragacz, the president of Justice and Unity for the Southern Tier, Guan had not been able to speak with his mother, who traveled from Taiwan several times to visit him at the Broome County Jail, while he was in Batavia. However, Guan was released from the facility on Tuesday and reunited with his mother.

“This is a great victory and it would not have happened without a broad based movement supporting his asylum claim,” Pragacz wrote in a statement to Pipe Dream.

Pragacz and JUST had joined civil liberty advocates in public demonstrations to demand Guan’s release and protest ICE detentions at the Broome County Jail back in December. Pragacz also expressed his appreciation for Chen’s work, saying that most detainees in the jail do not receive as much press coverage or activist support.

The Broome County Jail currently holds 39 ICE detainees and 36 U.S. Marshal detainees, marking a decrease in ICE detainees from the 53 held as of Dec. 22, 2025.

Pragacz claimed that most detainees in the jail do not have access to “even basic legal counsel” and often choose to self-deport, which Pragacz describes as “one of the more Orwellian terms in immigration proceedings.”

However, the Sheriff’s office said it currently has an “active working relationship” with Journey’s End Refugee Services, which provides local legal immigration representation to low-income refugees, asylum-seekers and other immigrants.

“As stated many times before, all detainees are provided access to legal representation, translation, technology and more to ensure due process as they make their way through the legal system,” Sheriff Fred Akshar said in a statement to Pipe Dream.

The Sheriff’s office added that representatives from Journey’s End Refugee Services have visited the correctional facility and can confirm that they provide access to these services.

Pragacz further called for an end to local cooperation with ICE and the holding of ICE detainees in Broome County.

“So while I am exceedingly happy for Guan Heng and his mother, the effort it took to free just one person was enormous,” Pragacz wrote. “The work is far from over. Indeed, his release shows how much work remains.”