The Department of Homeland Security blacklisted 43 Chinese companies tied to Uyghur forced labor in its biggest single expansion of the import ban, a move that brings the total list to 187 entities and puts importers on notice that violators face prosecution.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin announced the additions Thursday, with U.S. Customs and Border Protection set to begin enforcement the following day. Every product from the newly listed companies now carries a legal presumption that it was made with forced labor in China's Xinjiang region and is barred from entering the United States unless an importer can prove otherwise. The expansion covers companies across aluminum, apparel, copper, cotton, tomatoes, and related downstream goods, sectors long flagged as dependent on coerced Uyghur workers.

The 43 new designations represent a roughly 30 percent increase in the size of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List. Two existing entries also received technical updates to their official names, according to the Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force, which is chaired by DHS Under Secretary for Strategy, Policy, and Plans Rob Law.

Mullin frames the blacklist as defense of American workers

Mullin, in a statement provided exclusively to the Daily Caller, cast the crackdown in both moral and economic terms:

"Today we are adding 43 Chinese companies to the UFLPA Entity List, and DHS will ensure their products do not enter our country. The American worker must not be undercut and cheated by foreign companies that use slave labor. Our job is to defend the Homeland, and that includes protecting our citizens from unfair competition that not only disadvantages Americans, but harms human dignity."

That dual framing, human rights plus fair competition, runs through every official statement DHS released alongside the announcement. It also matches the broader trade enforcement posture the administration has adopted. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer made a similar argument on Fox News' Special Report days earlier, on July 27.

"We are taking action to make sure that our workers and companies compete on a level playing field."

Greer's appearance focused on Section 301 tariffs and forced labor bans, linking the import restrictions to the administration's wider effort to hold Beijing accountable for trade practices that undercut American manufacturers. Secretary Mullin has signaled a willingness to use federal leverage across multiple policy areas, and the UFLPA expansion fits that pattern.

CBP has already blocked $1 billion in suspect shipments

Since the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act took effect, CBP has denied entry to more than 24,300 shipments valued at nearly $1 billion. That enforcement record now grows substantially with 43 additional companies whose goods face the same rebuttable presumption at the border.

Separately, the DHS-DOJ Trade Fraud Task Force, a joint operation between Homeland Security and the Department of Justice, has recovered or secured more than $1 billion in penalties, recoveries, and charged losses tied to illicit imports. DHS Assistant Secretary for Trade and Economic Security Aris Kourkoumelis issued a pointed warning to anyone thinking about skirting the new designations:

"The DHS-DOJ Trade Fraud Task Force brings a new energy to our enforcement against illicit imports and our broader efforts to end the human suffering caused by forced labor. Importers should know that those who attempt to circumvent today's action and knowingly import goods produced with forced labor will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."

That language, "prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law", marks a step beyond the civil enforcement that has defined most UFLPA action to date. It signals the administration views willful evasion as a criminal matter, not just a customs dispute.

The Trump administration's willingness to back enforcement rhetoric with action has been a recurring theme. CBP data has shown a sustained streak of border enforcement under the current administration, and the agency's trade enforcement arm appears to be following the same model. Recent CBP data confirms the administration has maintained that posture for well over a year.

Rob Law calls the expansion a tool for economic and national security

Under Secretary Rob Law, who chairs the interagency task force responsible for identifying companies that belong on the blacklist, framed the expansion as inseparable from national security:

"The Trump Administration remains steadfast in its commitment to remove forced labor from U.S. supply chains and to holding foreign companies accountable for their exploitation. We are uncompromising in the continued prevention of unfair practices that undermine American businesses, expansion of the UFLPA Entity List is a tool by which DHS can ensure both our economic and national security."

DHS says it works with industry groups, nonprofit organizations, and international partners to help companies comply with the law and scrub their supply chains of forced labor inputs. The department did not name those partners in the announcement.

The UFLPA itself passed with bipartisan support. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted to approve the legislation back in June 2021, with the committee's official account declaring at the time that "the U.S. cannot be complicit in these atrocities" and that Congress "must hold Beijing accountable." Five years later, the enforcement apparatus built under that law is expanding at a pace its original sponsors likely did not anticipate.

Xinjiang's forced labor pipeline remains a bipartisan concern, in theory

The Uyghur forced labor issue has drawn condemnation across party lines, at least on paper. Secretary of State Marco Rubio posted in February 2025 that he was "alarmed" after Thailand forcibly returned a group of Uyghurs to China, calling the action a violation of Thailand's international obligations and urging the Thai government to account for the returned detainees.

But bipartisan rhetoric has not always translated into bipartisan urgency. The UFLPA Entity List sat at 144 entities before this expansion, a number that grew slowly under prior leadership. Adding 43 companies in a single action dwarfs any previous round of designations and suggests the current administration found a backlog of companies that should have been listed sooner.

The administration has shown a similar willingness to move aggressively on enforcement in other areas. President Trump has overruled his own DHS when he concluded enforcement was not moving fast enough, a pattern that extends well beyond immigration into trade and economic security.

DHS did not release the names of the 43 newly blacklisted companies in the announcement provided to the Daily Caller. The specific identities of those firms, the evidence underlying each designation, and the full scope of their supply chain reach remain open questions. CBP's public UFLPA page is expected to reflect the updated list, but the individual company names were not included in the exclusive reporting.

What is clear: any importer still sourcing aluminum, apparel, copper, cotton, or tomato products from Xinjiang-linked suppliers now faces a harder choice. Goods from 187 entities carry a presumption of forced labor at the U.S. border. Rebutting that presumption requires evidence. Failing to rebut it means the shipment stays out. And knowingly trying to slip tainted goods through could mean a referral to the Department of Justice.

The enforcement apparatus the administration has built around the DHS and its component agencies continues to expand in scope and consequence, whether the subject is border security, immigration enforcement, or now, the products sitting on American store shelves.

For years, Washington talked about holding Beijing accountable for forced labor. A list of 187 companies, a billion dollars in blocked shipments, and a billion more in penalties suggest someone finally meant it.