The latest in a series of Chinese migrant groups to arrive at the southern border between the United States and Mexico emerged near California on Monday.
The migrants, most of whom were reportedly Chinese nationals fleeing authoritarian leader Xi Jinping, lined up neatly dressed and carrying appropriate luggage as they were processed after their illegal crossing. NewsNation reported.
They stood in a line near the San Diego County town of Jacumba Hot Springs as the county debates whether to approve millions more in emergency aid to help house them.
While many of the migrants who caused the US border crisis used to come from Central and South America, thousands now come from China.
In fiscal year 2023, which ended in September, U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported 24,048 Chinese nationals were apprehended at the Mexican border, more than in the previous decade combined.
That’s more than 10 times higher than the 1,970 arrests recorded in fiscal 2022 and just 323 the year before, when China was under strict pandemic-related travel bans and lockdowns.
The latest in a series of Chinese migrant groups to arrive at the southern border between the United States and Mexico emerged near California on Monday
THIS IS HAPPENING NOW🚨 Large groups of migrants, mostly Chinese nationals, are illegally crossing open gaps in the border wall in Jacumba Hot Springs, California @NewsNation
Tomorrow, San Diego County officials will vote on whether the county will spend $3 million in taxpayer money on… pic.twitter.com/mPN46jr7yH
— Jorge Ventura Media (@VenturaReport) December 4, 2023
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott noted the new trend of people coming from Communist China and said it only makes President Biden’s fight at the border worse.
“It is extremely dangerous because, first of all, as you point out, people are coming here from China.”
“We also have people on the known terrorist watch list coming across the border.” “And there are extraordinary dangers, calls to our country from Biden’s open borders policy,” Abbott told Fox News on Sunday.
“And obviously Biden is not doing anything about it. “And that’s why Texas needs to arrest as many of these people as possible to make sure they don’t pose a threat to our country,” he added.
“But this is a very serious existential threat to our country caused by Joe Biden.” And that’s exactly why Texas is taking extraordinary steps to address it.”
In California, the influx of migrants is forcing governments to consider spending millions on more facilities to house people.
In San Diego, the county board of supervisors will vote Tuesday on a bill that would provide an additional $3 million for migrant facilities, NBC News reported. They’ve already spent $3 million since September.
About 100,000 of the 1.3 million people finally ordered deported from the United States are Chinese nationals, the New York Times reported.
The migrants, most of whom were reportedly Chinese nationals fleeing authoritarian leader Xi Jinping, stood neatly dressed and carrying neat luggage as they were processed after their illegal crossing
While many of the migrants who caused the US border crisis used to come from Central and South America, thousands now come from China
Around 100,000 of the 1.3 million people finally ordered deported from the US are Chinese nationals
They stood in a line near the San Diego County town of Jacumba Hot Springs as the county debates whether to approve millions more in emergency aid to help house them
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott noted the new trend of people coming from Communist China and said it only makes President Biden’s fight at the border worse
The Times spoke with several of the migrants who claimed they were fleeing the authoritarian government of Xi Jinping, whom President Biden has called a dictator.
“The main reason for me is the political environment,” said Mark Xu, 35, who teaches English at elementary and middle schools in China but is now in Colombia trying to migrate north.
He added that Xi’s COVID policies made breathing at home “harder.”
Although Latin America remains by far the largest regional source of immigration, China and other Eastern Hemisphere nations represent a significant and growing minority of migration via the southern land route.
The Border Patrol arrested 41,719 Indian migrants coming from Mexico in fiscal year 2023, up 129 percent from the previous year.
About 7,390 Russians were captured, a 42 percent increase, while 15,429 Turks were arrested, about the same level as the previous year.
Of the countries not categorized by CBP because they are not traditionally a significant source of illegal immigration, a total of 148,471 migrants were apprehended at the southern border last fiscal year, three times more than the year before. This includes many countries in the Middle East and Africa.
In total, the Border Patrol apprehended 2,045,838 migrants at illegal border crossings on the southern border and expelled another 429,831 at ports of entry in the 12 months ending September, the highest annual number on record.
During fiscal year 2023, which ended in September, U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported 24,048 Border Patrol apprehensions of Chinese migrants at the southern border
A group of people, including many from China, walk along the wall near Jacumba, California, on October 24 after crossing the border into Mexico to seek asylum
The surge in migrants trying to enter the U.S. underscores the scale of the humanitarian crisis at the border and the political challenge it poses to President Joe Biden as he seeks re-election in 2024.
The influx of migrants from China follows years of draconian pandemic restrictions in that country that have hobbled the economy and shaken confidence in the ruling Communist Party.
Chinese asylum seekers who spoke to the Associated Press in a recent article said they wanted to escape an increasingly repressive political climate and bleak economic outlook.
Deng Guangsen, 28, traveled from southern China’s Guangdong province to San Diego over the past two months, crossing seven countries by plane, bus and on foot, including crossing the dangerous DariĂ©n Gap jungle in Panama.
“I don’t feel anything,” Deng said in the San Diego parking lot where border patrol agents dropped him off after clearance. ‘I have no brother, no sister.’ I have no one.’
Chinese migrants often rely on a relatively new and dangerous route through Panama’s DariĂ©n Gap jungle that has become increasingly popular with the help of social media, where posts and videos provide step-by-step instructions.
According to Panamanian immigration officials, Chinese were the fourth highest nationality to cross the Darién Gap in the first nine months of this year, after Venezuelans, Ecuadorians and Haitians.
Now emigration has increased again as China’s economy struggles to recover and youth unemployment soars.
The United Nations has forecast that China will lose 310,000 people to emigration this year, compared with 120,000 in 2012.
Deng Guangsen winces as he talks about his journey from his native China to crossing the U.S. border into Mexico while sitting in a transit center in San Diego last month
A group of people, including many from China, walk along the wall near Jacumba, California, on October 24 after crossing the border into Mexico to seek asylum
A caravan of refugees advances through the south of the country on Monday to reach the border with the United States in Tapachula, Mexico
It has become known as “Runxue,” or the teaching of running away. The term originated as a way to circumvent censorship by using a Chinese character whose pronunciation is like the English word “run” but means “to moisten.” Now it’s an internet meme.
“This wave of emigration reflects desperation toward China,” said Cai Xia, editor-in-chief of the online comment site Yibao and a former professor at the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Party School in Beijing.
“They have lost hope in the future of the country,” said Cai, who now lives in the United States. “Among them are educated and uneducated people, white-collar workers, small business owners and those from wealthy backgrounds.”-off families.’
The Darien Gap route is feasible for Chinese immigrants as they can fly to Ecuador without a visa.
From Quito, they travel with Latin Americans through the once impenetrable Darién Gap and through several Central American countries before reaching the US border.
The journey is so famous that it has its own name in Chinese: Walk the Line, or “Zouxian.”
Short video platforms and messaging apps have popularized the route.
They offer on-location video clips and step-by-step guides from China to the US, including tips on what to pack, where to find guides, how to survive in the jungle, which hotels to stay in and how much to bribe can police in different countries and what to do if you encounter US immigration officers.
Translation apps allow migrants to navigate Central America independently, even if they don’t speak Spanish or English.
Short-video app Douyin, owned by TikTok owner ByteDance, is one of the Chinese tech giant’s main sources of overall revenue, Portal previously reported.
A couple from China adjusts their masks as they wait to board a bus to the airport after crossing the border and being dropped off by Border Patrol agents at a transit center in San Diego
A man from China receives a bowl of oatmeal from a volunteer as he waits with others for his asylum application to be processed after crossing the U.S. border with Mexico
A large influx of Chinese migrants to the United States on a relatively new and dangerous route through Panama’s DariĂ©n Gap jungle has become increasingly popular thanks to social media
A Chinese migrant told Portal she came across “Baozai,” an internet personality who gained tens of thousands of followers on Douyin, Xigua Video, YouTube and Twitter by posting videos about his migration to the United States.
Baozai’s original account, “Baozai Exploring the World Alone,” was suspended on Douyin for violating the “community self-discipline rules.”
He now posts on Douyin under a new account with the same name, sticking to content about his life in the United States.
Portal found other social media accounts giving advice in Mandarin about crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.