{"id":215363,"date":"2026-04-02T01:24:19","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T01:24:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/215363\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T01:24:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T01:24:19","slug":"lt-gov-collins-wants-stricter-border-security-birthright-citizenship-changes-after-macdill-afb-bomb-scare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/215363\/","title":{"rendered":"Lt. Gov. Collins wants stricter border security, birthright citizenship changes after MacDill AFB bomb scare"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\" article <\/p>\n

TAMPA, Fla. – Lieutenant Governor Jay Collins spoke on Wednesday morning near the MacDill Air Force Base<\/a> to give an update on the threats against the base\u2019s security.<\/p>\n

Collins expressed his concerns about an improvised explosive device (IED) that was recently found at MacDill Air Force Base.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

The backstory:<\/p>\n

According to the\u00a0Federal Bureau of Investigation, Alen Zheng, 20, planted the explosive device at the base\u2019s visitor center on March 10 and immediately called 911 to report it. But, base security didn\u2019t locate the package until March 16.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

The day after the bomb threat, Zheng and his sister, Ann Mary Zheng, allegedly sold the vehicle used to transport the device to CarMax and booked flights to China.<\/p>\n

RELATED: Brother and sister charged after an explosive device was found outside MacDill Air Force Base<\/a><\/p>\n

They both left for China by March 12, officials said.<\/p>\n

Ann Mary Zheng later returned to the U.S. where she was arrested on March 17. She is in custody for her role in helping him escape.<\/p>\n

Collins said the FBI found IED components in the sibling’s Land O’ Lakes home.<\/p>\n

Dig deeper:<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Alen Zheng is still at large in China, but due to no extradition treaty with the U.S., China has no obligation to turn him over, Collins said.<\/p>\n

According to Collins, both siblings are Chinese-Americans, and their mom has been living in the U.S. with an expired visa and is currently undergoing deportation.<\/p>\n

Collins pointed to Governor DeSantis’ statement, that 9% of U.S. births were to unauthorized or immigrant mothers. Collins says the two siblings were a result of this same incident, where the mother was living in the U.S. with a visa, but the two siblings \u2014 by default \u2014 gained U.S. citizenship due to being born on American soil.<\/p>\n

To underscore his concerns, Collins pointed to the National Intelligence Law of the People\u2019s Republic of China, specifically Articles 7 and 10.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Collins said Article 7 of the National Intelligence Law forces Chinese Nationals to support, assist and cooperate with the state intelligence. The law also states that the State will protect individuals and organizations that support, assist and cooperate with Chinese national intelligence.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Collins said article 10 says Chinese Nationals should use necessary methods to carry out intelligence work at home and abroad.<\/p>\n

What they’re saying:<\/p>\n

“What this means in short is that Chinese nationals here on visas are definitely spying\u2014maybe not every one of them, but some are,” Collins said.<\/p>\n

Following the recent security breach, he emphasized the need for stricter border security and changes to birthright citizenship laws.<\/p>\n

The Source: This article was written using information from a press conference by Lieutenant Governor Jay Collins.<\/p>\n

Tampa<\/a>MacDill Air Force Base<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"article TAMPA, Fla. – Lieutenant Governor Jay Collins spoke on Wednesday morning near the MacDill Air Force Base…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":215364,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[47,629,37633,2583,115,202,204,203,199,201,200,135,628],"class_list":{"0":"post-215363","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-st-petersburg","8":"tag-fl","9":"tag-hillsborough","10":"tag-macdill-afb","11":"tag-military","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-st-pete","14":"tag-st-pete-headlines","15":"tag-st-pete-news","16":"tag-st-petersburg","17":"tag-st-petersburg-headlines","18":"tag-st-petersburg-news","19":"tag-tampa","20":"tag-us"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=215363"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215363\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/215364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=215363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=215363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=215363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}