U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested the illegal alien parents of two individuals linked to an attempted attack on the MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida.
Alen Zheng allegedly placed an improvised explosive device at the MacDill Air Force Base Visitor’s Center, while his sister, Ann Mary Zheng, allegedly assisted his avoidance of justice, according to an April 3 news release from the Department of Homeland Security.
The Zheng siblings were born on American soil after their parents, Qiu Qin Zou and Jia Zhang Zheng, entered the country illegally from China.
The parents applied for asylum in 1993 but were denied.
Despite being ordered for removal by an immigration judge in 1998, they remained in the United States for the following three decades.
Meet Qiu Qin Zou and Jia Zhang Zheng, two illegal aliens from China who exploited birthright citizenship and had anchor babies in the U.S.
Their children were recently arrested after they reportedly attempted to bring an explosive device onto a U.S. military base.
The Supreme… pic.twitter.com/KZmN6bJb5Z
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) April 3, 2026
“Automatically granting citizenship to children of illegal aliens born in the U.S. is based on a historically inaccurate interpretation of the Citizenship Clause and poses a major national security risk,” Acting Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said in a statement.
“That reality became apparent last week when two U.S.-born children of Chinese illegal aliens were indicted for planting a potentially deadly explosive device outside MacDill Air Force Base in Florida,” she added.
“This incident underscores the severe national security threat that illegal immigration and birth right citizenship pose to the United States.”
Ann Mary Zheng is also in federal custody, having been apprehended once she returned to the United States from China.
But Alen Zheng is believed to still be residing in the communist nation.
The Department of Homeland Security indeed linked the case to ongoing debates about birthright citizenship, which was recently considered in oral arguments before the Supreme Court.
🚨🚨🚨 A federal investigation into a failed bombing at MacDill Air Force Base has led to a series of criminal charges against two Land O’Lakes siblings — Alen Zheng and Ann Mary Zheng.
On Mar 10, 2026, Alen planted an improvised explosive device (IED) in a secluded location… pic.twitter.com/PLhgebYKER
— Byron Wan (@Byron_Wan) March 26, 2026
“The attempted attack illustrates why the improper recognition of ‘birthright citizenship’ for children of illegal aliens is not only inconsistent with the Constitution, but endangers all Americans,” the agency asserted.
Some read the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution as granting citizenship to anyone born on American soil, even if their parents were not citizens or were even illegal aliens.
But others say the Fourteenth Amendment was meant in its original context to grant citizenship to the children of emancipated slaves.
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