The “opaqueness” of the global supply chain remains a significant challenge as lawmakers and enforcement officers continue to contend with the elevated threat of forced labor, according to U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas.
At an event in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the DHS head said the other pivotal consideration is “[making] sure that we do not in any way impair or infringe upon legitimate trade” while trying to halt bad actors.
Two years after implementing the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA), Mayorkas reflected on the rollout’s successes and lingering pain points. “Two years may seem like a long time, but in terms of taking a new piece of legislation, actioning it, and demonstrating results, two years is very quick,” he said. “And we have been very quick.”
DHS and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) have halted 9,000 shipments worth $3.4 billion at U.S. gateways and borders since the legislation came into effect. “We have added 68 entities to the entities list,” up from 20 entries in June of 2022, “creating a presumption of ineligibility to enter the United States. We have built international partnerships. We have built tremendous partnerships with the trade industry,” he said.
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DHS has also observed that companies are beginning to “to shift their supply chains in very, very significant ways—and that is in a number of industries,” Mayorkas said.
He pointed to the department’s recent engagement with the textile sector, which he said “is suffering by reason of this scourge.” Mayorkas in January spoke with the National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) and its members about the threat that cheap goods made with forced labor pose to domestic industry, and those conversations resulted in the development of an enforcement strategy.
“That is why we engage with industry, because we recognize the significance of the actions that we take,” he said. “We want to get it right. We have no interest in being wrong. We just want to enforce the law… to achieve its intended effect in an effective way and that requires partnership and communication, understanding industry’s concerns, understanding their goals, what obstacles they might face, and working together to overcome them.”
Mayorkas pointed to the de minimis exception, often referred to as a “loophole” in trade policy, as a major hurdle hindering UFLPA enforcement efforts.
“One of the challenges that we have is the de minimis exception and the exploitation of that exception,” he said. “And we are working towards and hoping to receive a legislative fix to give us greater authorities to address that.”
Mayorkas estimated that the U.S. receives 4 million packages daily under the de minimis rule. “Look, we can’t screen all 4 million a day,” he said, noting that implementing AI tools will help enhance capabilities significantly.
Still, he said the law is “built on a false premise that low-value means low-risk.” While the de minimis packages entering the country are often small—well under the $800 threshold that allows them to make their way to consumers duty free—CBP has unearthed countless contraband items, from drugs like fentanyl to dangerous or faulty products, in its investigations.
“If anyone here would join us at a facility at one of the airports or one of the mail facilities and watch the assembly line of packages in our screening and see what we discover, it is stunning,” he said.
The official underscored that beyond the fact that “building on the backs of disadvantaged populations is not the way to conduct ourselves in terms of American values,” products made with forced labor pose a real danger to consumers.
“I find the line between homeland security and national security to be thinning significantly, given an increasingly globalized environment in which we operate,” he explained, citing social media, web-based platforms and the expanse of international trade.
“What is international is increasingly domestic, and what is domestic is increasingly international….That line is blurring and thinning increasingly.”
With that reality in mind, Mayorkas said it’s essential that corporations and industry leaders do their part to ensure that they are trading safely with foreign markets. “Learn your supply chains as vigorously as you can. Make changes where changes are due. Harness technology to learn those supply chains,” he said.
The DHS lead’s public appearance took place the same day that the Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force (FLETF) released an annual update to its strategy to prevent the importation of goods prohibited under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA).
Led by DHS but made up of numerous federal government agencies, from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) to the Department of Labor, the Department of State, the Department of the Treasury, the Department of Justice and the Department of Commerce, the FLETF is tasked with reporting on UFLPA enforcement efforts each year and highlighting advancements in strategy.
In the 2024 update, FLETF identified new high-priority sectors for enforcement, including aluminum, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and seafood, which were found to have a higher risk of being produced with forced labor. The task force said it continues to designate apparel, cotton and cotton products as high-priority sectors.
“We are committed to expanding our enforcement of the UFLPA to keep goods made with forced labor out of U.S. markets,” undersecretary for policy and chair of FLETF Robert Silvers said upon the report’s release.
“This will happen through [the] designation of more companies to the UFLPA Entity List, enforcement by CBP at our ports, focus on additional industry sectors, and continued engagement with industry and civil society.”
“Businesses are shifting behavior to ensure their supply chains are free of goods made with forced labor, which protects workers and strengthens our nation’s economic security,” CBP senior official Troy A. Miller added. “Thus far, CBP has denied entry to nearly 3,500 such shipments valued at over $695 million. Our enforcement efforts will continue, as will our engagement with our key stakeholders to reinforce the shared imperative of this work.”