By Eva Fu
Contributing Writer
The FBI is investigating what’s fueling the riots against immigration enforcement in Los Angeles, said the agency’s director, Kash Patel.
“The FBI is investigating any and all monetary connections responsible for these riots,” Patel said in response to rising concerns about possible Chinese influence behind the chaos.
One group backing the unrest is the Party for Socialism and Liberation, a communist political party linked to networks funded by pro-Beijing tech tycoon Neville Roy Singham.
The group has been posting updates about the riots on social media platform X, describing the arrests of illegal immigrants as a “war being waged on immigrant communities” while accusing Immigration and Customs Enforcement of “kidnapping our neighbors, friends and families.”
One group closely allied with the Party for Socialism and Liberation is The People’s Forum, a Singham-funded organization based in Manhattan that has advocated for the ruling Chinese regime’s causes.
The People’s Forum has praised China’s COVID-19 policies and hosted events in Manhattan that hail the ascent of the Chinese Communist Party as a “decades-long epic battle that transformed not only China, but also the world.”
The two organizations have been cross-posting on social media X in solidarity with the rioters. Both have been calling for more protests in their respective locales.
The People’s Forum, in an X post on Tuesday afternoon, asked people to gather in Manhattan’s Foley Square at 5 p.m. to “demand ICE get out of our communities.” A poster attached showed the Party for Socialism and Liberation, as well as Code Pink — an anti-war activist group that Singham’s wife, Jodi Evans, co-founded — as event endorsers.
Evans began a campaign called “China Is Not Our Enemy” through Code Pink in 2020. She is also a contributor to The China Academy, a content platform that partners with Chinese state media and other Chinese state-linked entities to project Beijing’s narratives. One member of her group in March disrupted a February 2023 hearing by the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, waving a banner with the slogan “China is not our enemy.”
In July 2023, Singham attended a Chinese propaganda forum in Shanghai that aimed to promote the regime’s international image. He was seated next to speaker Zhou Zhan’an, who taught at the School of Marxism at China’s state-affiliated Fudan University, taking notes on a red-covered notebook, photos from the university show.
The People’s Forum has openly commented about its financing source and its ideological stance.
“Yes, we stand with Palestine. Yes, we oppose the U.S. war drive on Russia and China. And yes, for the thousandth time, TPF has received donations from our friend Roy Singham, a former Black Panther and lifelong socialist, who had a bank account at Goldman Sachs,” the group wrote in one January 2024 Instagram post, adding that they “have nothing to hide” and are proud of what they’ve built.
The New York nonprofit has hosted Sheila Xiao, a member of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, multiple times to promote a book she wrote touting China’s socialist turn and for a lecture series under the same theme. The co-founder of the forum, Claudia De La Cruz, ran as the Party for Socialism and Liberation candidate for president in 2024.
The networks’ Chinese ties have received growing attention in Congress.
In April, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, wrote to Attorney General Pam Bondi and Patel, urging them to assess whether The People’s Forum and Code Pink should register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act due to their alleged ties to Beijing.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., on Tuesday said the House Oversight Committee, where she serves, will issue a formal document request to Singham regarding “his funding of a communist group linked to the L.A. riots and the CCP.”
“If he refuses to appear, he will be subpoenaed, and if he ignores that he will be referred to the DOJ for prosecution,” she wrote on X in all caps, using the acronym for the Department of Justice.
Code Pink didn’t directly respond to a request for comment but reacted to Paulina Luna’s post, saying the congresswoman “is using her position to libel our organization and threaten our right to free speech,” and that they are filing an ethics complaint against her.
