DJI drones held by US customs, including the Air 3S

DJI has shared that Customs and Border Protection has been holding its drones from entering the US due to believed forced labor by Chinese Uyghurs. This may mean customers who purchased the recently released Air 3S could likely see delayed deliveries in the US.

In a blog post, DJI explains that due to a “misunderstanding,” the CBP is blocking the import of select drones into the U.S. The hold is, according to DJI, due to the CBP/Department of Homeland Security’s belief that the products were produced with forced labor in the Xinjiang region of China.

DJI strongly objects to the claims that it uses forced labor and that it does not have any manufacturing facilities in Xinjiang, nor does it source any components from the region. The company emphasizes that it only manufactures its drones in Shenzhen and Malaysia.

One of the affected drones is the DJI Air 3S, which was announced earlier this week and is expected to be a highly sought-after upgrade for many pilots. A DJI spokesperson told DroneDJ that the hold has “primarily impacted our enterprise and agriculture drones and has limited us from offering the Air 3S to US customers beyond DJI.com.”

A rarity for DJI product releases, the Air 3S is currently not listed on the company’s Amazon storefront.

DHS was not able to respond in time for comment before publication.

DJI states that the current holds do not indicate a ban on DJI products and do not have anything to do with the current legislature in Congress attempting to ban DJI drones. The drone manufacturer has been in contact with the CBP, and the agency has cited the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act as the reason for the holds.

This act blocks any products manufactured “wholly or in part” in Xinjiang or any companies specifically listed in the law. The law also allows CBP to hold the goods without reason to investigate their origins. While DJI claims to have a long list of evidence that it is not violating the law, it will need to clear itself with CBP.

It’s unknown what provoked the change at CBP to block DJI products using a law DJI has been in compliance with for as long as we can remember. However, the ever-growing anti-China sentiment in the US government is one of the very few issues that has gained support in both political parties.