Steve Cortes, founder of the League of American Workers, has raised concerns about Chinese nationals studying at U.S. universities. He claims they have “CCP handlers,” referencing a Stanford Review investigation that reported Chinese Communist Party infiltration through impersonators and student informants. Cortes made these statements to the San Jose Standard.
“This reporting from the Stanford Review catalogues the Chinese Communist Party’s consistent campaign to infiltrate America’s top research universities, which must stop,” said Cortes, Founder of League of American Workers. “We taxpayers fund these schools, including the elite private ones, and that investment should educate American young people, not foreigners, and especially not Chinese spies. It is clear that America cannot allow Chinese nationals at our universities any longer. Those foreign students must answer to their Party bosses in Beijing, which jeopardizes our national security and our cutting-edge intellectual property. Every Chinese national studying in America has a CCP handler. So, why would we continue to allow this open spying at our centers of knowledge?”
The Stanford Review has detailed an alleged espionage operation by China targeting Stanford University through covert methods, including impersonation and influence tactics. According to the investigation, an operative identified as “Charles Chen” posed as a Stanford student and contacted real students—particularly women researching China—via social media. One student, referred to as “Anna,” received messages encouraging her to travel to China and use state-monitored apps for communication. Experts advising her concluded that “Charles” was likely affiliated with China’s Ministry of State Security and had used false identities for years to target others at Stanford.
According to the Stanford Review, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) runs an information-gathering campaign on campus. Drawing from over a dozen anonymous sources—faculty, students, and China experts—the report suggests a “non-traditional collection” strategy in which civilian agents, including international students, are used to extract sensitive but unclassified research. It is claimed that Chinese nationals studying at Stanford are often pressured or incentivized to report back to the Chinese government under China’s 2017 National Intelligence Law. Particular attention is given to recipients of scholarships from the Chinese Scholarship Council (CSC), who are allegedly required to submit regular reports and align their research with state objectives.
In March 2025, Representative John Moolenaar, chairman of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, sent a letter to Stanford University President Dr. Jonathan Levin expressing concerns about national security risks posed by the enrollment of Chinese nationals in U.S. graduate STEM programs. The letter accuses elite universities of prioritizing financial gain from international tuition—especially from China—over American student access and national interests. Moolenaar warns that China exploits academic institutions to access sensitive technologies for military and economic gain and cites intelligence reports on espionage threats while requesting information from Stanford on various aspects related to Chinese student enrollment.
The investigation by the Stanford Review references past incidents such as the 2020 indictment of Chen Song, a Stanford researcher accused of concealing her ties to the Chinese military. It claims incidents like these are rarely made public due to institutional concerns about racial profiling. These intelligence operations are described as widespread and strategic, aiming to extract U.S. research for China’s technological advancement.
Cortes is president of the League of American Workers and senior political advisor to CatholicVote. He is also noted as a former senior advisor to President Trump and JD Vance, as well as a former commentator for Fox News and CNN.
