Freedom House Unease created by fears of surveillance may intersect with concerns about how the collected information could potentially be used. Some diaspora members interviewed by Freedom House noted suspicions that contact with US law enforcement may place them in more, not less, danger: “Part of the reason why people won’t speak up is because they know the government of Rwanda has a very tight relationship with the US government, and sharing information, they think they’re telling on themselves,” said Gatebuke, the RwandanAmerican activist. These issues could impede the FBI’s efforts at informing vulnerable diasporas about the threat of transnational repression and the resources that are available to them. Lacking lawful status, some in targeted communities will not report transnational repression Another significant obstacle to tracking transnational repression, which cannot be overcome by greater awareness of the threat among law enforcement, is the precarious legal status of the people targeted by it. The case of the Uyghurs seeking asylum in the United States exemplifies this issue. The US government has called the campaign against Uyghurs in Xinjiang, which includes forced sterilization, mass internment camps, and surveillance, a “genocide” and “crimes against humanity.” 27 Uyghurs living outside of China also face an array of repressive tactics. They are targeted for detention and deportation through Interpol28 and through cooperation between the Chinese government and friendly counterparts.29 They are heavily surveilled.30 Their families are threatened.31 And they are intimidated via phone calls and online abuse.32 While Uyghurs who experience transnational repression in the United States can contact local or federal law enforcement, some may hesitate to do so because they lack lawful immigration status. In the last two years, the United States has not admitted any Uyghurs through its refugee resettlement program.33 This is for two main reasons. First, Beijing has made it extraordinarily difficult for Uyghurs to leave China by denying them passports and exit paperwork, and few Uyghurs are able to apply through the United Nations for asylum while in China. Second, the United States has greatly restricted the number of refugees it accepts for resettlement. Refugee admissions were reduced substantially under President Trump, shrinking from 85,000 the year he took office to 11,800 the year he left. And although the Biden administration promised to increase refugee resettlement, only 11,400 refugees were admitted to the United States during his first year in office, in 2021.34 Uyghurs already in the United States are facing obstacles to gaining protected status as well. Those who applied for asylum after entering the country lawfully as students, workers, and to visit family members35 are spending years— sometimes as many as 7 years—in legal limbo as their asylum cases work their way through an extremely stressed and dysfunctional immigration system.36 US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has an unprecedented multimillion backlog of cases. Processing these cases has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which strained service delivery, while strategic changes to immigration policies under President Trump directed resources away from the processing of asylum claims toward processing expedited removals.37 Another significant obstacle to tracking transnational repression, which cannot be overcome by greater awareness of the threat among law enforcement, is the precarious legal status of the people targeted by it. As of the end of 2020, there are more than 386,000 pending applications for affirmative asylum in the United States.38 Affirmative asylum claims are made by people who are not in removal proceedings and are proactively seeking protection from persecution within the United States. Uyghurs and others affected by this backlog remain at risk of deportation as they wait for their cases to be adjudicated. This lack of security seriously deters their ability to engage in activism and can also discourage contact with law enforcement. “There is a fear [while you wait for asylum] that you don’t belong anywhere yet. You are still a Chinese citizen…maybe your passport is already expired. And if it is, you don’t belong to any country anymore,” said Jawdat.39 The timely processing of asylum applications is one of the central priorities of the Uyghur diaspora. Without lawful permanent status, targets of transnational repression remain especially vulnerable to the reach of authoritarian governments. freedomhouse.org 7