We are pleading with the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to look into Shein and Temu’s supply networks for “slave labour”.
Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), whose Uyghur Forced Labour Prevention Act (UFLPA) was signed into law in 2021, wrote to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas requesting that he look into Shein and Temu’s possible legal violations and add them to the UFLPA entity list.
“Evidence both companies are exporting goods to the United States made with Uyghur slave labour,” according to Rubio.
In his letter, he expresses encouragement that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) unveiled a plan to tackle the illicit textile trade earlier this month. However, he notes that over two years after the Uniform Labour Law Act (ULLPA) was enacted, the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP)-led Forced Labour Enforcement Task Force has failed to include even one organisation on the exporter list under ULLPA’s Section 2(d)(2)(B) (iv).
In his letter, he maintains that Shein is now the leading fast fashion store in the US, surpassing rivals like Zara and H&M. He also claims that Shein’s parent business, Zoetop, is domiciled in Hong Kong, and that Zoetop has been penalised by the State of New York for improper handling of customer privacy.
Rubio goes on to say that Temu helps Americans conduct online business with tens of thousands of Chinese sellers. He also claims that Temu has close ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), employs malware to track its users, and helps with intellectual property violations.
