US Blocks Imports From BGI Group and Two Genomics Firms Over Xinjiang Forced Labour Allegations

Three genomics companies face a new US border barrier

The United States has added BGI Group, BGI Genomics and MGI Tech to its forced labour import blacklist, targeting major suppliers of genetic testing technology over their alleged involvement in surveillance and repression in China's Xinjiang region.

The Department of Homeland Security announced the action on October 28, 2026, with import restrictions scheduled to begin October 29. The additions bring the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List to 190 entities. Goods from listed companies face a presumption that they were made with forced labour and cannot enter the United States unless importers meet the law's standard for proving otherwise.

The notice identifies BGI Group as Shenzhen BGI Technology. BGI Genomics is a publicly traded genetic testing business, while MGI Tech manufactures machines that read genetic material. Both have longstanding ties to BGI Group, although MGI separated from the group in 2016.

DHS alleges that the companies conducted or supported genetic testing with Xinjiang authorities, helping a system used to monitor ethnic minorities and organise forced labour. The companies reject the allegations. China also condemned the action and said it would defend its businesses.

The decision extends US restrictions beyond access to American technology and government business to the movement of goods across the border. For hospitals, researchers and biotechnology companies buying sequencing equipment, the immediate issue is whether products from these suppliers can enter the country.

What DHS says genetic testing enabled

DHS said it had "reasonable cause to believe" that the companies conducted or helped conduct genetic testing in Xinjiang alongside local authorities. It alleged that BGI Group and BGI Genomics performed testing, while MGI Tech supplied equipment and related support.

The department described genetic information as part of a wider surveillance system used against Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz and other persecuted groups. It said collection sometimes took place under the guise of healthcare.

Genetic sequencing reads the instructions stored in DNA, the material that carries inherited information. The technology supports medical diagnosis and research. DNA can also help identify people and biological relationships, making its collection sensitive when authorities use it to track a population.

DHS described the alleged connection between the companies' work and abuses in Xinjiang in its announcement:

The collection and analysis of genetic material facilitate the monitoring, surveillance, and repression of ethnic minorities by the government of the People's Republic of China, including the abhorrent practice of forced labor.

The department used language covering the recruitment, transport, transfer, harbouring or receipt of forced labour. Its specific explanation centred on genetic testing and the use of genetic information by authorities, rather than identifying particular raw materials from Xinjiang inside sequencing machines.

Rob Law, DHS under secretary for strategy, policy and plans, said the companies' conduct reflected a failure to separate commercial interests from human rights. He described their behaviour as showing:

an unwillingness to separate profit motives from basic codes of human dignity

How the import restriction works

The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, signed into law in 2021, makes forced labour prevention a condition of access to the US market. Listing a company shifts the burden to the importer: instead of customs authorities having to demonstrate forced labour in each shipment, the importer must overcome the legal presumption attached to the goods.

US Customs and Border Protection will enforce the restriction at the border. An importer seeking entry for affected goods must provide evidence sufficient to satisfy the law that the products were not made with forced labour.

No listed entity has yet resumed US shipments by meeting that proof standard. The legal route for an exception therefore exists, but the history of enforcement shows how difficult it has been to use.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin linked the action to both labour rights and competition for American businesses. He said:

This is about enforcing our laws, protecting American businesses from unfair competition, and making clear that companies connected to forced labor will not get a free pass in this country.

The list now reaches across industries, including cotton, canned tomatoes, electronics and equipment. Adding prominent genomics businesses brings a technology used in laboratories and healthcare more directly into the same border enforcement system.

The companies reject the allegations

BGI Group said it had not engaged in forced labour and opposed it in all forms. The group said it respected internationally recognised principles concerning human rights and labour standards, and expected no material effect on its operations because US business represented only a small share of its activities.

MGI Tech also rejected the allegations as inconsistent with the facts. In its response, the company stated:

We have zero tolerance for forced labour in any form.

BGI Group and BGI Genomics said they would communicate with the relevant authorities and take appropriate measures. MGI said it would challenge the designation and seek removal from the list. No timetable for a decision on that challenge was given.

BGI has also stressed its private ownership and said its work serves civilian and scientific purposes. Addressing longstanding US concerns about access to genetic information, the group has said it does not serve patients in the United States and has no access to Americans' genetic data.

China's government denies US and other Western allegations of genocide and other abuses against Uyghurs and Muslim minorities in Xinjiang. Beijing describes its policies in the region as measures to fight terrorism and maintain stability.

What the companies sell and how they are connected

MGI sells genetic sequencers to researchers, biotechnology businesses and hospitals. BGI Genomics supplies sequencing products and services, as well as medical diagnostic tests. Their businesses connect the machinery used to read DNA with the services that interpret it.

Descriptions of the corporate relationship vary. DHS said BGI Group had controlling stakes in BGI Genomics and MGI Tech, while MGI has also been described as a former subsidiary and trading partner following its 2016 separation. Company records show continuing commercial and management connections after that split.

BGI Genomics and MGI continued to share a director and trade with each other. Both also supplied Forensic Genomics, a BGI subsidiary. Securities disclosures show that MGI supplied nearly $3 million in goods and services to Forensic Genomics during the first half of 2023.

Company disclosures and press releases identify Forensic Genomics as a supplier of DNA testing materials to China's Ministry of Public Security. That ministry has a central role in policing, surveillance and detention in Xinjiang.

The commercial links help explain why US scrutiny has extended across several businesses rather than stopping at the BGI Group name. Earlier restrictions had already reached companies within the same network.

Why a small revenue share still matters

BGI Genomics reported that the Americas accounted for less than 2% of its revenue in 2025. MGI said about 8% of its revenue came from the Americas. Those figures cover a wider region than the United States, so the US portion is smaller than the regional total or, at most, equal to it.

MGI's reported Americas share is more than four times BGI Genomics' share, using 8% and the latter company's figure of less than 2%. MGI therefore has greater regional exposure by this measure, although the figures do not provide a precise US revenue comparison.

MGI had already decided in February 2026 to divest its US subsidiary, Complete Genomics. It cited an increasingly difficult US policy environment and has said geopolitical pressure is weighing on its business.

For US customers, the practical concern is purchasing equipment and other goods from the listed businesses. Laboratories planning purchases will need to check whether a supplier or product falls within the restriction before arranging a shipment.

The companies' relatively small US businesses help explain their statements that the immediate financial effect will be limited. The restriction still closes a route for future expansion in a major research and healthcare market.

A timeline of mounting restrictions

The October action follows years of US measures aimed at parts of the BGI network. Earlier steps restricted access to American technology, while the latest decision targets imports into the United States.

• 2020: The US Bureau of Industry and Security placed Xinjiang Silk Road BGI, a subsidiary of Forensic Genomics, on its export restriction list over alleged abuses connected to genetic testing in Xinjiang.
• 2021: President Joe Biden signed the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act into law.
• 2023: The Bureau of Industry and Security listed Forensic Genomics, also known as Shenzhen Huada Forensic Technology, citing risks associated with genetic data collection and surveillance.
• March 2025: China restricted imports of sequencing equipment from US company Illumina after new American tariffs took effect.
• February 2026: MGI decided to divest Complete Genomics, citing the US policy environment.
• August 2026: The US added 43 Chinese companies to the forced labour entity list, bringing it to 187 entities.
• October 28, 2026: DHS announced the three genomics additions, increasing the total to 190, with import restrictions scheduled for the following day.

The August additions accounted for 43 of the 187 entities on the list at that point, or about 23%. The latest expansion is much smaller by number, but reaches some of the most prominent companies targeted under the law.

The Pentagon has separately designated BGI Group, BGI Genomics and MGI Tech as Chinese military companies. BGI has rejected concerns about its national security risks and described its activities as civilian and scientific.

China pushes back as biotechnology tensions grow

Chinese embassy spokesperson Liu Chang said the new action lacked a factual basis and urged Washington to stop using forced labour allegations to suppress Chinese businesses. He said:

The U.S. measures have seriously undermined the legitimate rights and interests of the relevant Chinese enterprises and severely disrupted the stability of global industrial and supply chains.

China has already taken action against US sequencing company Illumina. In March 2025, it barred imports of the company's sequencing equipment after an additional 10% US tariff on Chinese goods took effect.

Illumina said in November 2025 that China's Ministry of Commerce had indicated it would lift the import ban. The company remained on China's Unreliable Entities List, however, meaning purchases of its instruments still required government approval.

Beijing also sanctioned six US entities after an earlier round of American forced labour list additions in July. The latest designation arrives during a fragile trade truce, with biotechnology becoming another point of friction alongside tariffs and restrictions on advanced technology.

The US Treasury Department has proposed restrictions on American investment in biotechnology, artificial intelligence and supercomputing in countries including China. Those proposals would address the flow of investment, adding another possible layer to rules already affecting equipment, contracts and trade.

What could happen next

MGI's stated plan to challenge its listing puts removal from the entity list among the next steps to watch. BGI Group and BGI Genomics have also signalled that they will approach the authorities.

Kit Conklin, chief strategy and global affairs officer at Exiger, said further US restrictions on Chinese biotechnology companies were probable. He identified clinical trials, testing and modelling as areas that could face action. Exiger develops supply chain technology and helps businesses enforce laws including the forced labour legislation.

Washington's policy discussion is already broader than imports. Congress previously considered legislation naming BGI in restrictions involving federally funded medical providers. A later provision passed without naming individual companies and called for a list of biotechnology companies of concern.

For the three newly listed businesses, the immediate change is concrete: their goods face a US border barrier from October 29. Their responses, any requests for removal and purchasing decisions by American laboratories will shape the commercial effect.

Key Points

• DHS added BGI Group, BGI Genomics and MGI Tech to the forced labour entity list on October 28, 2026.
• Import restrictions were scheduled to begin October 29, bringing the list to 190 entities.
• US officials allege the companies supported genetic testing used in surveillance and forced labour programmes in Xinjiang.
• The companies reject the allegations, and MGI says it will challenge its designation.
• The Americas accounted for less than 2% of BGI Genomics' 2025 revenue and about 8% of MGI's revenue.
• No listed entity has yet resumed US shipments by meeting the law's proof standard.