The Washington Free Beacon has an interesting story about a candidate for governor of Virginia, Abigail Spanberger (a former CIA official no less), who is alleged to have received a hefty political donation from one Pin Ni, a member of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP):
The funding is perplexing given that Virginia law forbids foreign nationals from making political contributions, and Chinese law typically bans CCP members from holding foreign citizenship or permanent residency.
The article cites Pin’s many CCP ties, as well as his position atop the Chicago-based arm of a Chinese corporation. It goes on as follows:
National Legal and Policy Center chairman Peter Flaherty said Pin’s donation “raises many questions,” including whether Pin is a U.S. citizen and eligible to make political donations.
There are indeed a lot of questions worth asking. U.S. immigration law (8 U.S.C. Sec. 1182(a)(3)(D)(1)) is specific in stating unambiguously that:
Any immigrant who is or has been a member of or affiliated with the Communist or any other totalitarian party (or subdivision or affiliate thereof), domestic or foreign, is inadmissible.
How, then, did Pin obtain a visa to enter the United States? And if he thereafter adjusted status to become a permanent resident, and later yet naturalized (questions for which there are no public answers at this time), how did he do so without committing false statements or, alternatively, withholding material information regarding his membership in the CCP?
The Justice Department recently announced that it was revivifying a task force to ferret out naturalization fraud and denaturalize persons who committed it to obtain their citizenship. (I say “revivify” because a previous attempt was made with marginal results, for reasons too varied and complex to delve into in this blog.)
Putting aside the Spanberger campaign’s dubious judgment in accepting the donation, the circumstances certainly warrant an examination of Pin's status, whether as an alien or a naturalized U.S. citizen.