Federal prosecutors have charged a brother and sister, both U.S.-born children of Chinese nationals living illegally in the country for nearly three decades, in connection with an alleged plot to detonate an improvised explosive device at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida, home to U.S. Central Command and Special Operations Command.
The Department of Homeland Security announced that ICE arrested the suspects' parents, Qiu Qin Zou and Jia Zhang Zheng, after the siblings were connected to the failed bombing attempt. DHS said both parents had applied for asylum in 1998, were denied, and were ordered removed by an immigration judge, yet remained in the country for roughly twenty-seven years, as Fox News Digital reported.
The case has landed at the center of a live constitutional fight. The Supreme Court held oral arguments Wednesday on the legality of President Donald Trump's executive order to end birthright citizenship for children of illegal immigrants, an order he signed on his first day back in the Oval Office in 2025. DHS officials wasted no time framing the MacDill case as proof that the current policy poses a direct threat to national security.
The FBI said 20-year-old Alen Zheng is believed to have planted an improvised explosive device at MacDill Air Force Base on March 10. The device was placed at the base's visitors center, and federal prosecutors told the Washington Times it did not detonate, but could have been "very deadly."
The bomb was not discovered until March 16, when Tampa Police Department officers blocked traffic along South Dale Mabry Highway near MacDill's main entrance after a suspicious package was reported at the gate. The AP reported that the FBI confirmed the package contained "possible energetic materials" and that MacDill briefly issued a shelter-in-place order, elevating security to Force Protection Charlie, the second-highest military security level.
Investigators linked the device to Alen Zheng through a phone he had purchased. A search of his home uncovered additional explosive device components. Prosecutors allege the siblings then attempted to cover their tracks by selling a 2010 Mercedes-Benz to CarMax. Investigators later found trace explosive residue inside the vehicle.
Alen Zheng fled to China, where the FBI says he remains. His sister, Ann Mary Zheng, also fled to China with him but returned to the United States. FBI Tampa arrested her on March 17.
Alen Zheng faces charges of attempted damage to government property by fire or explosion, unlawful making of a destructive device, and possession of an unregistered destructive device. If convicted, he faces up to 40 years in prison.
Ann Mary Zheng was charged as an accessory after the fact and tampering with evidence. Court documents show she is accused of hiding or damaging the Mercedes-Benz to prevent its use in legal proceedings. She faces up to 30 years in prison.
FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed the scope of the case in a public statement, as Newsmax reported:
"A brother and sister have now been indicted. One is in custody for accessory and evidence tampering and the primary suspect is charged with explosives offenses and is currently in China."
U.S. Attorney Gregory Kehoe described the threat in stark terms, saying the device "could have potentially been very deadly."
The timeline of the parents' immigration history tells its own story. DHS said Qiu Qin Zou and Jia Zhang Zheng applied for asylum in the United States, were denied, and were ordered removed by an immigration judge in 1998. The Bureau of Immigration Appeals denied multiple subsequent attempts by the parents to reopen their case.
They stayed anyway. For nearly three decades, they lived in the country illegally, long enough to have children who, under current law, received automatic U.S. citizenship at birth. ICE apprehended both parents the day after Ann Mary Zheng's arrest on March 17. DHS confirmed both are now in ICE custody.
The fact that a family ordered deported in 1998 remained in the country long enough for their children to allegedly target a military installation raises uncomfortable questions about enforcement gaps that have persisted across multiple administrations. The recent fight over DHS funding, during which even some Democrats acknowledged that the terror threat was running "higher than usual", makes the enforcement failure harder to dismiss.
DHS officials moved quickly to connect the MacDill case to the administration's broader legal effort to end automatic birthright citizenship for children born to illegal immigrants on U.S. soil. The department said the case "illustrates why the improper recognition of 'birthright citizenship' for children of illegal aliens is not only inconsistent with the Constitution, but endangers all Americans."
Acting DHS Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis was blunt. She said that "automatically granting citizenship to children of illegal aliens born in the U.S.... poses a major national security risk."
Bis went further, tying the MacDill case directly to the legal argument before the Supreme Court:
"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. This incident underscores the severe national security threat that illegal immigration and birthright citizenship pose to the United States."
Bis also asserted that the policy of granting automatic birthright citizenship "is based on a historically inaccurate interpretation of the Citizenship Clause" of the 14th Amendment, a position the administration is now pressing at the highest court in the land.
The broader political context matters here. Congressional battles over DHS funding and ICE resources have consumed Washington for months, with Democrats repeatedly resisting the administration's push to strengthen immigration enforcement.
The Supreme Court's Wednesday oral arguments on Trump's birthright citizenship executive order did not appear to go entirely in the administration's favor. Amy Swearer, a senior legal fellow at Advancing American Freedom, described the court's line of questioning as "disappointing" for proponents of Trump's position.
But Swearer also tempered expectations, noting the difficulty was expected:
"Most people understood coming into this, and I suspect even the government understood coming into this, that this was probably going to be a bit of an uphill battle."
She added: "I do think there's a path forward." The case remains pending.
Whatever the Supreme Court decides, the MacDill case stands on its own as a law enforcement matter. Alen Zheng remains in China. Ann Mary Zheng is in custody. Their parents, who defied a deportation order for a quarter-century, are now in ICE's hands. No motive for the alleged bombing has been publicly stated by investigators.
The seven-week DHS funding lapse earlier this year already raised serious questions about whether political gamesmanship was undermining the nation's security posture. A case involving an alleged IED at the headquarters of U.S. Central Command, planted, prosecutors say, by the child of illegal immigrants who should have been removed decades ago, sharpens the point considerably.
Several critical details remain unresolved. Prosecutors have not publicly stated a motive for the alleged attack. It is unclear what additional evidence, beyond the trace explosive residue and the phone records, appears in the charging documents. And the question of how Alen Zheng managed to flee to China, and whether he can be brought back, looms over the case.
MacDill Air Force Base, meanwhile, continues to operate under heightened security. The base oversees military operations across the Middle East and commands all U.S. special operations forces. Officials there said they "take all threats seriously" and are "taking appropriate measures to prioritize the safety and security of our installation."
The administration has also pressed forward on broader homeland security measures, framing cases like this one as evidence that the current system is broken at a fundamental level.
A family ordered deported in 1998 stayed for nearly thirty years. Their children received citizenship. One of those children allegedly planted a bomb at a U.S. military base. If that sequence of facts doesn't settle the birthright citizenship debate, it ought to at least end the pretense that the status quo is harmless.
