ICE Deports Chinese National Convicted of Drone Photography of Military Site

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on May 7 removed a Chinese national who was convicted of using a drone to photograph a naval shipyard in Virginia.
'The removal of Fengyun Shi reflects ICE's steadfast dedication to protecting the American people and upholding national security,' Brian McShane, director of the Philadelphia Field Office Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO),
Shi pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors under the Espionage Act in July 2024 and was originally sentenced to six months in prison and one year of supervised release.
In March, ERO Philadelphia served him with a notice of removal, and an immigration judge ordered his removal to China.
Since then, lawmakers have introduced
Student Photographed Classified US Submarines, Sites
Shi entered the country on an F1 visa as an agricultural engineering graduate student at the University of Minnesota in August 2021.
On Jan. 5, 2024, he
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The naval shipyard builds nuclear submarines and next-generation Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carriers.
The drone got
On the morning of Jan. 6, 2024, Shi requested help from a resident to retrieve the drone. Instead, the resident took photographs of Shi's identification and called the police after Shi indicated he was flying the drone over the shipyard. Officers from Newport News Police Department questioned him, and federal prosecutors said bodycam footage showed that Shi appeared 'very nervous' and did not state 'any real reasons for why he was flying the drone.'
The resident gave the drone to an
Court documents noted that three commissioned submarines—the USS Boise, USS Columbus, and USS Montana—were located at Newport News Shipbuilding on the day that Shi used the drone.
'Naval aircraft carriers have classified and sensitive systems throughout the carriers,' the court documents read. 'The nuclear submarines present on that date also have highly classified and sensitive Navy Nuclear Propulsion Information ('NNPI') and those submarines even in the design and construction phase are sensitive and classified.'
On Jan. 18, 2024, the FBI arrested Shi in San Francisco, where he was preparing to board a one-way flight to China. His visa was terminated on Jan. 25, 2024, and the University of Minnesota terminated him from its exchange program on Feb. 7, 2025.
The Justice Department
He had been incarcerated at the Clinton County Correctional Facility in McElhatten, Pennsylvania, and was arrested by ERO Philadelphia upon release on March 7.
In recent years, there has been an increase in drones being flown over or near sensitive sites across the United States.
In December 2024, the Federal Aviation Administration banned drone flights over 22 critical infrastructure locations, after the FBI reported more than 5,000 drone sightings in one month. Officials said most were
Frank Fang and Andrew Thornebrooke contributed to this report.

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