The order directs the Texas Department of Public Safety to target and arrest anyone implementing CCP influence operations like “Operation Fox Hunt,” an initiative of the PRC to forcibly return people to China it’s identified as so-called dissidents living in the U.S.

“The Chinese Communist Party has engaged in a worldwide harassment campaign against Chinese dissidents in attempts to forcibly return them to China,” Abbott said. “Texas will not tolerate the harassment or coercion of the more than 250,000 individuals of Chinese descent who legally call Texas home by the Chinese Communist Party or its heinous proxies.”

Abbott issued the order ahead of the legislature convening in January to consider bills related to national security and China. This is after in the last legislative session he said he would sign a bill banning foreign nationals from countries, including the PRC, that pose national security threats to the U.S. from purchasing land in Texas. The bill was blocked by a Republican state House committee chair after the CCP spearheaded a campaign against it, The Center Square reported.

He also issued the order after the FBI criminally charging CCP-linked individuals who were allegedly involved in Operation Fox Hunt to “harass, stalk, and coerce U.S. residents” to return to the PRC. Those targeted “are often ‘guilty’ of nothing more than opposing the PRC government or CCP actions, including by exposing corruption,” the order states.

More recently, in 2023, the FBI brought charges against 44 Chinese nationals allegedly operating illegal PRC police stations in New York City. The FBI action stemmed from a nonprofit report identifying 102 overseas “police service stations” operating in 53 countries, including in Houston, The Center Square reported.

Operation Fox Hunt was launched in 2014 to target Chinese nationals living outside of China, according to the FBI.

In 2016, Xinhua News reported a “total of 1,032 fugitives … returned to China from over 70 countries and regions” through Fox Hunt. In 2017, Xinhua reported CCP operatives had “caught 3,317 fugitives from over 120 countries and regions” in the five previous years. The CCP’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) in 2017 also identified 22 people on its “most wanted list,” 10 of whom were living in the U.S.

In 2019, the CCP launched roughly 555,000 domestic corruption cases in 11 months, according to CCDI and CCP National Supervisory Commission data. Among them, disciplinary measures were taken against 485,000 people; 19,000 were criminally investigated, according to the data.

In a July 2020 speech to the Hudson Institute, FBI Director Christopher Wray described numerous ways that the CCP created a national security threat, including targeting hundreds of U.S. citizens or green card holders through Fox Hunt. The CCP “wants to force them to return to China” using “shocking” tactics, he said.

“China describes Fox Hunt as an international anti-corruption campaign – it’s not,” Wray sai. “Instead, Fox Hunt is a sweeping bid by General Secretary Xi to target Chinese nationals whom he sees as threats and who live outside China … political rivals, dissidents, and critics seeking to expose China’s extensive human rights violations.”

One way they do this, he explained, is to send an emissary to the target’s family in the U.S. to convey a message. “The target had two options: return to China promptly or commit suicide,” he said. “And what happens when Fox Hunt targets refuse to return to China? In the past, their family members both here in the United States and in China have been threatened and coerced; and those back in China have even been arrested for leverage.”

Abbott’s order instructs DPS to partner with local and federal law enforcement officials to identify and charge “individuals suspected of crimes related to exploiting dissidents on behalf of any foreign government.”

It also charges DPS with investigating and documenting individuals suspected of planning, attempting, or carrying out acts of repression, develop training programs that can be used to identify and report such threats, and provide policy recommendations by January 15, 2025, on how to counter such threats.

DPS was also tasked with introducing a hotline and updating the state’s iWatch Texas Community Reporting System to allow Texans to directly report any “suspicious acts of oppression or coercion by PRC or CCP actors, or other foreign adversaries against Texans.”

Texans are encouraged to report suspicious activity at iwatchtx.org, through the iWatchTexas mobile app, or by calling 844-643-2251. Reports can be anonymous.