Border Patrol agents recorded more than 18,000 encounters of Chinese migrants crossing the southern border illegally in just four months, according to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data updated on Tuesday.
Agents recorded 18,659 encounters of Chinese illegal migrants in the region between October and January, according to CBP data. Migrants from China are among the fastest growing nationality crossing the southern border, according to CBS News. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Feds Nab Afghan Illegal Immigrant On Terror Watchlist)
There were more than 24,000 encounters of Chinese migrants crossing the southern border illegally in fiscal year 2023, compared to more than 1,900 such encounters in fiscal year 2022 and 323 in fiscal year 2021, according to CBP data.
ROMA, TEXAS – MAY 05: Chinese migrants speak to a border patrol officer before being processed after they crossed the Rio Grande into the U.S. on May 05, 2022 in Roma, Texas. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
“Right now in China there’s extreme pessimism, especially among people in their 20s about the future of their country, so it’s understandable that they’re leaving and they’re trying to get into the United States. And, you know, these are people who are relatively middle class, so it shows you the problems in Chinese society are severe,” China expert Gordon Chang previously told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
“When I first saw that the surge in Chinese migrants, that’s the thought that came to my mind that these are either Ministry of State Security agents or Chinese military, who are coming to this country to commit acts of sabotage against the US,” Chang said.
The vetting process for Chinese illegal migrants has been simplified under the Biden administration, and authorities have been instructed to go from asking the migrants roughly 40 questions to only five, according to an internal CBP email obtained by the DCNF.
“This policy change has accelerated the time it takes to process Chinese illegal immigrants — this doesn’t make America safer,” J.J. Carrell, a retired CBP deputy patrol agent in charge, told the DCNF. “The final result is that dangerous Chinese illegal immigrants will still be released into the U.S.”
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