Shi entered the country on an F1 visa as an agricultural engineering graduate student.
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 Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) office in Philadelphia, said in a May 14 statement. “His unlawful actions posed a significant risk to sensitive military installations, and his removal ensures that he is no longer a threat to the nation.”
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 legislation to criminalize drone video recordings of U.S. defense infrastructure, as current laws criminalize only drone photography of these sites. Lawmakers who introduced the Drone Espionage Act had specific concerns about spying on behalf of the Chinese regime.
Student Photographed Classified US Submarines, Sites
Shi entered the country on an F1 student visa as an agricultural engineering graduate student at the University of Minnesota in August 2021.
On Jan. 5, 2024, he flew from Minnesota to Virginia, and then flew a drone over the Newport News Shipbuilding facility.
The naval shipyard builds nuclear submarines and next-generation Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carriers.
The drone became stuck in a tree after midnight on Jan. 6, 2024, according to a source at Huntington Ingalls Industries who notified a Naval Criminal Investigative Service unit.
On the morning of Jan. 6, 2024, Shi requested help from a local 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 investigative team with the U.S. Navy two days later. The FBI discovered photos and videos of U.S. Navy vessels and shipbuilding sites on the drone’s memory card.
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 announced charges against Shi in June 2024. He pleaded guilty a month later. He was convicted on Oct. 2, 2024, and would have been released in early 2025 under supervision, but ERO Philadelphia lodged an immigration detainer in November 2024, seeking his removal under the Immigration and Nationality Act.
He had been incarcerated at the Clinton County Correctional Facility in McElhatten, Pennsylvania, and was arrested by ERO Philadelphia upon his 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 flown by hobbyists, but the FBI said that 100 of the 5,000, or 2 percent, warranted further investigation.
Frank Fang and Andrew Thornebrooke contributed to this report.
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