Southern California woman accused of spying for China arrested by FBI agents at LAX

LOS ANGELES -- The FBI arrested a woman at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on Friday, claiming she's a Chinese spy.

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said the FBI arrested 34-year-old Wanying "Heather" Zhang of Irvine, California, as she was attempting to travel to China.

He shared a video on social media of Zhang in handcuffs with several FBI agents.

Zhang is accused of acting as an unregistered agent of the People's Republic of China (PRC).

Essayli says she traveled to Seattle in 2025 at the direction of the PRC and surveilled a close relative of a Taiwanese government official. She's accused of sending photos, videos and license plate information to PRC officials.

Zhang is due in federal court Monday.

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In an unrelated case, another woman was taken into custody by undercover Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents at LAX on Friday night.

Cellphone video shows federal law enforcement agents arresting a woman and placing her into a truck.

In the video, a witness is heard asking the agents why they are taking the woman, to which one of them responds, "immigration violation". The woman is then heard saying, "I'm not doing anything wrong."

Airport officials said federal agencies handle their own independent investigations and that airport operations are continuing as normal.