WASHINGTON — The Department of Homeland Security is coming under pressure to sequester shipments of Labubu dolls coming into the US due to forced labor concerns.
A test found that 16 of 20 of Pop Mart’s plush monster toys were comprised of some cotton from Xinjiang, where China is accused of carrying out human rights violations against the Muslim Uyghur population.
The heads of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation and State Armor, both China hawk groups, urged DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin to stop imports of those products in response.
“The forced labor system that feeds Pop Mart’s supply chain is setting records. In 2025 alone, Chinese authorities carried out 3.36 million ‘labor transfers,’” the heads of the two groups wrote to Mullin and Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday.
“Worker consent is rendered structurally impossible by the system’s design,” they added. “The scale of Pop Mart’s U.S. market makes the urgency acute. Pop Mart has announced plans to expand its U.S. retail footprint and membership base.”
The test identifying the ties to Xinjiang was commissioned by the Campaign for Uyghurs. The New York Times later confirmed the results independently.
The US bans imports from Xinjiang, a region also known as East Turkistan, due to alleged human rights abuses against the Uyghur Muslim population, including accusations of internment camps, sterilization, forced labor, and more.
State Department officials have classified the alleged human rights abuses there as genocide.
Pop Mart CEO Wang Ning had been defensive of Xinjiang cotton, previously blasting Adidas for vowing to avoid the region, alleging that the company had “baselessly smeared Xinjiang for violations of human rights” and “seriously hurt the feelings of the Chinese people.”
“We have stopped shipping cotton products into the U.S., which were a tiny percentage of our SKUs,” a Pop Mart spokesperson told The Post. “We are conducting a thorough investigation into our supply chain and working on strengthening our supplier compliance program.”
Labubu dolls have exploded in popularity around the world, with celebrities such as Rihanna and Kim Kardashian putting them on their luxury bags.
China has vehemently denied the human rights abuse accusations it has faced regarding Xinjiang.
Congress passed the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act to stop imports of products made in Xinjiang. The two groups are urging Mullin to have US Customs and Border Protection, an agency under DHS supervision, stop and inspect imports of the dolls.
“It shouldn’t come as a shock that Communist China produces one of its leading soft power tools, the Labubu plushies, from forced labor in Xinjiang,” Michael Lucci, founder and CEO of State Armor, told The Post in a statement.
“Secretary Mullin is well within his authority to deny the further importation of Labubus immediately.”
Dr. Eric Patterson, president of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, argued it’s undeniable that the dolls are using cotton sourced from Xinjiang.
“The communists in Beijing are operating a modern-day slavery ring and secretly exporting these tainted products to unknowing American consumers. This is what evil looks like.”
