Witnesses are sworn in to testify about alleged illegal marijuana crime networks in various states run by Chinese nationals at a House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations and Accountability hearing Thursday. Photo by Bridget Erin Craig/UPI
States including Oklahoma, New Mexico, Maine, and Oregon are grappling with an influx of illegal marijuana linked to Chinese criminal networks, raising national security concerns and straining local law enforcement resources, lawmakers said Thursday.
“They entered this country, for these home grow operations, hundreds of pounds of illegal, contaminated marijuana is introduced to the hands of people all over the United States, from Oklahoma to New York,” said Josh Brecheen, R-Okla., chairman of the House Homeland Security Oversight, Investigations and Accountability Subcommittee.
A committee hearing Thursday focused on how China is growing illegal marijuana in multiple states and how that is tied to larger criminal networks, including Mexican cartels.
From what he said he witnessed in his home state, Brecheen provided a scenario of the operation.
“A group of Chinese nationals affiliated with foreign criminal organization crosses the southern border [and] makes their way through rural [areas]. With them are [the bodies of] workers who have been murdered under the false promise of good jobs in the United States.”
According to Brecheen, once the nationals reach Oklahoma, they approach local residents with the opportunity to join on the marijuana farm, offering higher pay than jobs they may have, which he believes is seen as “an offer they cannot refuse.”
Donnie Anderson, the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics director, said that with Oklahoma’s approval of medical marijuana, the industry has overloaded the state.
“In one instance, a single Oklahoman was listed as the owner of approximately 300 marijuana farms in Oklahoma. Fraud is facilitated by consulting firms, real estate agents and attorneys who helped establish and scale operations,” Anderson said.
From March 2024 to March 2025, licensed growers reported more than 7.2 million plants, while dispensaries sold roughly 1.6 million pounds, according to Anderson. This left tens of millions of plants unaccounted for, which Anderson linked to illegal Chinese operations.
These marijuana operations, Anderson said, have been linked to violence, including execution-style murders, theft, human trafficking and other criminal activity.
“Beyond these murders, state authorities have documented a sharp rise in violent crime linked to black-market marijuana operations masquerading as legal enterprises,” he said.
Investigators face obstacles during investigations, such as conversing with Chinese nationals due to language barriers. An additional obstacle is the use of Chinese-owned platforms, such as the messaging application called WeChat, a highly popular application in China.
Although users can download it in the United States, they need a referral from an existing user — most are in China — and some may face restrictions if using the payment system, since it can only be linked to Chinese bank accounts.
“U.S. law enforcement cannot serve legal process or conduct electronic surveillance as we would with domestic platforms. WeChat falls outside the scope of the Communications Act of 1996 and the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986,” Anderson said.
Also, some marijuana sites have been established near sensitive infrastructure, including military bases and pipelines, raising both public safety and national security concerns, according to Anderson’s testimony.
For example, in an ongoing investigation, “the Department of Defense has reported suspicious activity at a marijuana grow operated by an ethnic Chinese group located adjacent to the McAlester ammunition plant,” Anderson said.
“This ammunition plant is the largest in the United States that is also responsible for manufacturing the Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb, and houses close to one-third of the Department of Defense’s munitions stockpile.”
Paul Larkin, a research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, proposed that Congress create and fund a permanent, interagency federal task force — led by the Drug Enforcement Administration, Homeland Security Investigations and the FBI, and involving state law-enforcement partners, to target and dismantle transnational marijuana growth house networks.
“Task Force funding would employ essentially a platform of these federal agencies combined with subject federal experts, translators with various Chinese dialects,” Larkin said.
In using Oklahoma as an example, he suggested bringing in “data scientists and target funding to recruit confidential sources,” and to coordinate with state criminal prosecutors.
While experts focused on long-term solutions utilizing federal enforcement, Rep. Delia Ramirez, D-Ill., raised concerns about Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
She advocated issuing a subpoena to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, citing that the influx of ICE and DHS agent raids and other actions are at the forefront of issues within Homeland Security.
Ramirez made that motion after presenting two intense social media videos that showed people’s interactions with DHS agents.
The first video showed DHS agents stopping a car with a family. During persistent questioning, the mother chose to ask the purpose and said she would consult with her lawyer, but the interaction itself caused the children to be fearful and cry.
The second video showed Silverio Villegas González, a father who had just dropped his child at daycare. He was in his car and was stopped by an ICE agent, When González decided to drive away, the agent shot him.
Ramirez said the videos exemplified problems within Homeland Security that the committee should address.
Her motion to subpoena Noem failed in a partisan 5-3 vote.
Republicans then focused on state-level action, with U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., urging that California Gov. Gavin Newsom “proclaim a state of emergency regarding illegal pesticides and illicit illicit cannabis operations.”
“He is the existential threat of the United States of America. Both illegal and legal operations in this country work hand in hand with the cartels in Mexico to undermine this country,” Ogles said. “A threat to the United States is not Homeland Security, but it’s China and the Mexican cartels.”
He added: “Somebody on the other side of the aisle is protecting their suppliers.”
