On Wednesday, Chengxuan Han, University of Michigan visiting scholar from the Huazhong University of Science and Technology, was sentenced to her time served — a total of three months in jail — and will return to China after pleading no contest in August to three smuggling charges and to making false statements to United States Custom and Border Protection officers.
The sentence comes after Han was arrested at the Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport in June for lying to Border Protection about packages that she had previously sent to individuals associated with a U-M lab in 2024 and 2025. The packages contained a growth medium used in the cultivation of nematodes — a kind of roundworm — as well as DNA material.
The Exchange Visitor Program at the University is meant to promote international educational and cultural exchange between professors, researchers, short-term scholars and specialists who are given the opportunity to study and work at the University. Any researcher who comes to the University is required to comply with both federal and University regulations when handling biological material.
Han’s defense attorneys, Sara Garber and Benton Martin, said in the sentencing memorandum that the government’s accusations are misguided, as Han routinely sends and receives packages with biological materials across the world, and the government overstated the seriousness of Han’s actions.
“Even if Ms. Han was negligent or failed to obtain the proper paperwork required by the United States for shipping materials—she made a mistake,” the memorandum read. “A mistake she has absolutely taken to heart and learned from. She did not, however, commit a criminal offense as charged by the government, certainly not with knowledge she was violating the law or with the intent to defraud the government.”
Garber and Martin also highlighted that Han has no criminal history and requested a sentence of time served.
“Ms. Han has no criminal history,” the memorandum read. “As to deterrence, either general or individual, we know that the likelihood of being caught is a greater deterrence than any term of imprisonment. In other words, a sentence of time served will not decrease the deterrent effect of this sentence on Ms. Han or others.”
In the press release, Jerome Gorgon, interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, wrote that although Han’s sentence was not severe, the case reflects a broader commitment to national security.
“While the criminal outcome could have been far worse for Ms. Han, she will be removed from the U.S. and barred from reentry as the result of her actions,” Gorgon wrote. “This case highlights the importance of collaboration among federal agencies to protect our communities and uphold the rule of law”
The University’s Office of Public Affairs declined to comment on the sentencing.
Daily Staff Reporter Micayla Horwitz can be reached at hmicayla@umich.edu.
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