“The Chinese government has a long track record of using its own nationals with U.S. visas or legal status for espionage and intimidation purposes. This influence is especially pervasive in academia,” the report shared with Secrets said.

“Chinese nationals studying at American universities or working in American research facilities frequently engage in state-directed espionage efforts to unlawfully export innovations or destroy American findings. The FBI estimates the cost of counterfeit goods, software piracy, and trade secret theft by Chinese nationals at $225 to $600 billion annually,” FAIR added.

And, the report added, “The hundreds of thousands of Chinese nationals admitted to the U.S. every year as international students give the Chinese government its pick of targets to recruit and develop, and a litany of examples have shown that’s exactly what it is doing.”

Despite repeated criticism of China’s spying tactics inside the country, Trump recently said he would approve another 600,000 visas for Chinese students in a U.S.-China trade deal. The MAGA base complained, but Trump said he is moving forward with the plan.

His move is somewhat confusing because Secretary of State Marco Rubio has blasted the high number of Chinese students in America. Trump recently told the Daily Caller, “I have a very good relationship with [Chinese] President Xi. I think it’s very insulting to a country when you say you’re not going to take your students.”

FAIR’s report, “China: How America’s Biggest Adversary is Weaponizing the U.S. immigration System,” is a deep dive into how China used former President Joe Biden’s open border policies to create a sinister network of citizens inside America.

While FAIR and other immigration hawks have praised the Trump administration’s border closing policies, the report is the latest warning that Chinese student immigrants in the U.S. pose a threat.

“Even with a relatively secure southern border, however, the threat posed by international ‘students’ and other legal entrants remains,” it concluded.

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“Increases in the number of visas given to China would only compound this risk, especially since the Chinese government has been proven to engage in visa fraud by concealing military personnel as ‘students’ and ‘researchers.’ The CCP is clearly willing to direct brazen schemes against the U.S. by exploiting our own immigration system’s weaknesses and blind spots. Allowing this to continue will place American innovation, prosperity, and ultimately lives at risk,” it added.

Dale Wilcox, executive director and general counsel of FAIR, said the student visas should be frozen.

“The effort of the Trump administration must now be on bringing pressure to bear on the Chinese government to accept the return of illegal aliens who are living in the United States, including the threat of withholding new student and other highly coveted visas. All illegal immigration is harmful to the interests of the United States and the American people. But when a foreign adversary is exploiting these policies to the detriment of our economic and strategic interests, addressing these issues must be the highest priority,” Wilcox said.