Correspondence
Query sent to the U.S. Department of Justice via the online form required for media queries.
The message said: "I’m contacting you in light of our latest investigation which concerns the use of forced labor in China’s seafood processing industry, and a link we’ve discovered between a company engaged in such practices and procurement contracts awarded by the Bureau of Prisons.
The Chinese company Qingdao Tianyuan Aquatic Products has received persons from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China since at least March 2020 under a state-imposed labor transfer program.
The United Nations, human rights organizations and academic experts agree that since 2018, the Chinese government has systematically subjected Xinjiang’s predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities to forced labor across the country via state-sanctioned employment schemes which use coercive methods in worker enrollment.
The U.S. has prohibited the importation of goods produced from state-imposed forced labor.
Public records show that since 2020 the Bureau of Prisons has awarded a fish product procurement contract to a company called Channel Fish Processing, which sources fish products from Qingdao Tianyuan.
Does the Department of Justice have any comment or statement to make in light of the above information?
Please let me know by close of business July 13, 2023."