Chinese Glass Giant Fuyao Faces New Congressional Probe Over Migrant Labor and CCP Ties

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Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., has sent a formal letter to Fuyao Glass Industry Group demanding detailed records on its U.S. labor practices, its corporate ties to Beijing, and the financing behind its Ohio operations. Khanna is the top Democrat on the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, and his letter follows a string of federal actions against the company.

Fuyao is one of the largest automotive glass manufacturers in the world, supplying windshields and window glass to brands including Ford, General Motors, BMW and Volkswagen. Its flagship U.S. plant sits in Moraine, Ohio, a suburb of Dayton, on the site of a former General Motors factory the company took over in 2014.

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A $126 Million Federal Forfeiture Case

The scrutiny follows a large-scale federal investigation. In July 2024, agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations unit, working alongside IRS Criminal Investigation agents, executed search warrants at Fuyao's Moraine plant and 27 other sites in the Dayton area.

Prosecutors later filed a civil forfeiture complaint alleging that a network of roughly 40 shell companies had been created to bring in and employ workers without legal authorization, then launder the proceeds. According to the Justice Department, Fuyao paid more than $126 million to limited liability companies controlled by the alleged scheme's operators, money that was used to buy real estate, vehicles and luxury items such as a Cartier watch.

The complaint, filed in April 2025, described "family style hotels," or boarding houses, where workers allegedly lived before being driven to and from the factories by the same network of companies. Investigators said many of the workers had entered the country illegally through Mexico. No criminal charges have been filed as of this writing, though the Justice Department has said a related criminal investigation remains open.

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What Khanna Wants to Know

Khanna's letter, obtained first by Fox News Digital, asks Fuyao to disclose whether it receives financial support from the Chinese government that would allow it to undercut American competitors on price. He also wants to know whether any Communist Party officials sit on the company's board or executive team, and whether Fuyao reports company information back to Party authorities.

"They have serious allegations against them of suppressing prices because they're being subsidized by the Chinese Communist Party, allegedly, of bringing people into this country who are undocumented and violating our immigration laws," Khanna told Fox News Digital.

Like all Chinese companies of its size, Fuyao is required to maintain an internal Communist Party committee. Research from the academic outlet Made in China Journal found that the company's own trade union chairman, a Fuyao vice president named He Shimeng, also serves as secretary of the firm's internal Party committee, and is a brother-in-law of company founder Cao Dewang.

Khanna is also pressing Fuyao on allegations of union-busting and wage violations, asking directly whether the company retaliated against any whistleblowers and why it has opposed unionization efforts at its American sites. He has requested an in-person visit to the Moraine plant before November 1 and says he is prepared to issue a subpoena if the company does not cooperate voluntarily.

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Echoes of "American Factory"

Fuyao's Ohio operation is not new to public attention. The plant was the subject of the 2019 Netflix documentary "American Factory," which won an Academy Award and chronicled friction between Chinese management and American workers after Fuyao took over the shuttered GM site. The film documented company efforts, including paid consultants, aimed at discouraging employees from unionizing.

That history is part of why Khanna's inquiry has drawn attention beyond Ohio. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have increasingly flagged Chinese-owned manufacturers as a test case for how Washington enforces labor and immigration law against companies with ties to Beijing.

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A Rare Bipartisan Opening

Despite being a Democrat, Khanna said he expects support from Republican colleagues, including committee chairman Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Mich. "We share a commitment to an American industrial policy," Khanna said, adding that he does not want Ohio manufacturing "taken over by Chinese companies that are violating our trade laws and our labor laws and our immigration laws."

Khanna also credited President Donald Trump with being among the first political figures to warn about China's trade practices harming American workers, though he argued the administration has not gone far enough in following through with industrial investment. Notably, migrant encounters at the southern border have fallen to a 50-year low under the current Trump administration, according to Pew Research Center data, a shift that stands in contrast to the years in which the alleged Fuyao smuggling scheme is said to have operated.

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What Comes Next

Fuyao has not publicly responded to Khanna's letter, and the Justice Department has not disclosed the status of its ongoing criminal investigation. Whether Congress ultimately compels the company to testify or hand over records may depend on how much bipartisan pressure builds ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, when control of the House committee could change hands.

For now, the case stands as one of the clearest examples yet of how deeply a Chinese Communist Party-linked manufacturer became woven into an American industrial town, and how long it can take federal authorities to unwind the arrangement.

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Sources

1. U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of Ohio (DOJ press release): https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdoh/pr/united-states-seizes-assets-related-126-million-illegal-staffing-money-laundering
2. Dayton Daily News, civil forfeiture complaint coverage: https://www.daytondailynews.com/local/federal-complaint-fuyao-raid-investigating-126m-illegal-staffing-money-laundering-operation/GMZO7WY5N5DB5BM52PYPQULHCY/
3. CNBC, "Trump is in China. This company is a cautionary tale of Chinese investment": https://www.cnbc.com/2026/05/15/trump-china-chinese-investment-autos-vitro-fuyao.html
4. Made in China Journal, "Service for Influence? The Chinese Communist Party's Negotiated Access to Private Enterprises": https://madeinchinajournal.com/2019/11/12/chinese-communist-party-access-to-private-enterprises/
5. Wikipedia, Moraine Assembly (plant history background): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moraine_Assembly

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