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The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has banned the import of goods from three Chinese companies due to allegations of forced labor.

What’s the deal: According to DHS, action has been taken against three Chinese companies—Baowu Group, Xinjiang Bayi Iron and Steel Co. Ltd., and Changzhou Guanghui Food Ingredients Co. Ltd.—for their involvement in forced labor, specifically exploiting Uyghur and other Muslim minority groups in China’s Xinjiang region. DHS claims that these companies profited from human rights abuses and forced labor, leading to their addition to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) entity list.

Digging deeper: The Uyghurs, a Muslim ethnic minority in China’s Xinjiang region, have been subjected to human rights violations by the Chinese government. These allegations include forced labor, confinement in re-education camps, phyiscal abuse, and cultural suppression. China has denied these claims, calling them propaganda from Western countries. Some Chinese officials have also suggested that Western sanctions on companies accused of using forced labor are intended to harm China’s economy.

What US officials are saying: In a statement, Robert Silvers, undersecretary of Homeland Security for policy, said, “Today’s actions reaffirm our commitment to eliminating forced labor from US supply chains and upholding our values of human rights for all. No sector is off-limits. We will continue to identify entities across industries and hold accountable those who seek to profit from exploitation and abuse.”

DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas added, “The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act is the Biden-Harris Administration’s most powerful tool to combat forced labor and hold its perpetrators to account. The UFLPA is catalyzing American businesses to fully examine and assess their supply chains and setting a new standard for our international partners as we work together to eradicate forced labor from the global economy.”