The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) United Front Work Department has long conducted intelligence-gathering and influence operations abroad by embedding itself in seemingly benign overseas organizations. These groups often operate in plain sight — shaping public opinion, supporting pro-Beijing policies, and sometimes interfering in election processes — while enjoying the legal protections and tax benefits afforded to nonprofit organizations in open societies.
For too long, Western governments largely ignored these activities. That may finally be changing. In recent days, bipartisan lawmakers in the United States and United Kingdom have taken concrete steps to demand greater accountability from organizations suspected of advancing Beijing’s agenda.
Hometown Associations and Marxist Groups in America
On April 8, 2026, House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party Chairman John Moolenaar, R-Mich., and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and IRS CEO Frank Bisignano. They urged a thorough review of U.S. tax-exempt organizations linked to the CCP’s United Front that may be violating rules against political campaign intervention.
The letter builds on a February 2026 Ways and Means hearing that exposed how foreign actors exploit America’s nonprofit sector to sow division and distort political discourse. A key figure highlighted was Neville Roy Singham, an American tech entrepreneur now based in Shanghai and married to Code Pink co-founder Jodie Evans. Fox Digital investigations show Singham has funneled more than $278 million into Marxist and far-left groups in the U.S., including The People’s Forum, to incite anti-American protests and create chaos in American cities, all while promoting pro-China propaganda.
The letter also spotlights the troubling transformation of Chinese “hometown associations.” Originally created to help immigrants from the same provinces or towns adapt to life in America, many have been co-opted by the United Front. A 2025 New York Times investigation identified more than 50 such groups in New York City alone that actively promote Beijing’s agenda — meeting regularly with Chinese consular officials, fundraising for and openly endorsing pro-Beijing candidates, and even mobilizing to unseat a New York state senator who attended a banquet with Taiwan’s president.
Many of these hometown groups operate as 501(c)(3) nonprofits, which are legally barred from significant political activity. Some leaders of hometown groups have gone even further, collaborating with Beijing’s law enforcement and intelligence agencies.
In 2023, the FBI arrested two officials from the America Changle Association in New York City for allegedly operating an illegal Chinese “police station” out of their offices to harass dissidents. Separately, former New York gubernatorial aide Linda Sun was arrested and charged with acting as an unregistered foreign agent; evidence presented in her case showed close coordination with leaders of major hometown associations in New York City, including the United Chinese Associations of the Eastern United States, which declared itself a foreign agent of China.
Highlighting these examples, Moolenaar and Smith urge both U.S. Treasury and the IRS to conduct “a thorough review of how tax-exempt organizations in the United States, which are influenced by foreign adversaries like the People’s Republic of China, are violating our laws and engaging in prohibited political campaign interventions that undermine our democracy and the integrity of the tax-exempt status for other organizations that are engaging in legitimate charitable purposes.”
Hellbound and Down 