The Biden administration has removed comparatively low numbers of Chinese nationals in recent years despite record levels of migrants from China crossing the southern border illegally, according to federal data.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recorded 288 removals of Chinese nationals in fiscal year 2023, 127 in fiscal year 2022 and 138 in fiscal year 2021, according to the data. All the while, Border Patrol recorded 24,000 encounters of Chinese migrants crossing the southern border illegally in fiscal year 2023, 1,970 in fiscal year 2022 and 323 in fiscal year 2021, according to CBP data.
Removals of Chinese nationals amounted to 726 in fiscal year 2018, 637 in fiscal year 2019 and 337 in fiscal year 2020, according to the ICE data. Border Patrol recorded 991 apprehensions of Chinese migrants crossing the southern border illegally in fiscal year 2018, 2,060 in fiscal year 2019 and in fiscal year 2020, according to federal data.
A group of Chinese migrants stand by the border wall in Yuma, Arizona, awaiting Border Patrol apprehension Jennie Taer//Daily Caller News Foundation
Border Patrol recorded 4,767 encounters with migrants from China crossing illegally in just November, exceeding yearly totals from 2007 to 2019, according to federal data. (RELATED: Migrant From Asia Who Crossed Southern Border Illegally Convicted For Child Porn Possession)
The Biden administration loosened the vetting of Chinese nationals crossing into the U.S. illegally, instructing federal authorities to reduce the number of interview questions for Chinese illegal migrants from roughly 40 to 5, according to an internal memo obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green said that some Chinese migrants are tied to the Chinese Communist Party and China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA), during a press conference in June.
“In terms of the verification that the individuals released into the United States have ties to the PLA came from a sector chief and I’ll leave it with that at this point. We have a classified briefing coming up in the very near future,” Green said at the time.
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