Whereas Sandy Phan-Gillis, a naturalized United States citizen of Chinese ancestry and Texas businesswoman, has been detained by the Chinese State Security since March 2015; Whereas Sandy traveled to China to promote business opportunities in her hometown of Houston, Texas; Whereas Sandy was detained by Chinese security agents as she was passing through an immigration control connecting mainland China with Macau; Whereas Chinese authorities held Sandy for six months in solitary confinement; Whereas Sandy was denied access to a lawyer for over a year; Whereas Sandy was hospitalized twice while in detention, and suffers from several serious medical conditions; Whereas in June 2016, a United Nations panel ruled that China had violated international human rights by denying Sandy access to legal assistance and holding her without bringing her before judicial authorities, the first time in its history that the U.N. has ruled that an American citizen had been arbitrarily detained by China; Whereas Sandy is accused of spying on China from 1996 to 1998; Whereas Sandy’s passport for 1996 had no Chinese visa, no Chinese entry stamps, and no Chinese exit stamps; Whereas Sandy’s pay stubs from the Houston Police Department, where she worked from 1993 to 1998, showed that during the time in question she took a total of 11 hours of vacation; Whereas Sandy has denied any wrongdoing and said her detention was political and not criminal, according to a letter transcribed by a United States consular official in China; Whereas China has provided little information about its allegations, saying only that she is suspected of stealing and spying on its national secrets and that over a year after her initial detention a new crime of espionage was uncovered; Whereas the Department of State has said consular officials meet every month with Phan-Gillis and are monitoring the case closely