When I was applying for H1B there was a box: were you ever a member of a communist organization. If yes - please write an explanation in the box below.

I doubt that it is possible to work on censorship in China while not being a member of CCP. Extremely unlikely: this is considered an "ideological position", those are for party members only.

So, either they lied on their H1B applications - which lying is a legal reason to send them back indeed; or else US Immigration officers were not paying attention: they should distinguish between people forced into a commie org (some of them are mandatory, like commie youth), and people actively working on censorship and oppression.

Anyway: such people should not have been allowed to enter. If there is a hole, it should be closed.

When I was applying for H1B there was a box: were you ever a member of a communist organization. If yes - please write an explanation in the box below.

I doubt that it is possible to work on censorship in China while not being a member of CCP. Extremely unlikely: this is considered an "ideological position", those are for party members only.

So, either they lied on their H1B applications - which lying is a legal reason to send them back indeed; or else US Immigration officers were not paying attention: they should distinguish between people forced in a commie org (some of them are mandatory, like commie youth), and people actively working on censorship and oppression.

Anyway: such people should not have been allowed to enter. If there is a hole, it should be closed.