Despite the distance and difficulty of the journey, more than 24,000 Chinese citizens were arrested last year while attempting to cross the border into the United States from Mexico. According to the US government, this is more than in the last ten years combined.
They typically fly to Ecuador, where they don’t need a visa, and then, like hundreds of thousands of other migrants from Central and South America and beyond, pay smugglers to guide them through the jungle between Colombia and Panama on their way to the United States. There they present themselves to the border authorities and many apply for asylum.
And most of them are successful, spurring new attempts. Chinese people are more successful in applying for asylum in immigration courts than people from other countries. And those who don’t make it still end up staying because China usually won’t take them back.
The polarizing immigration debate is a littlediscussed feature of the U.S. system, and American officials cannot force countries to take back their own citizens. In most cases this is not a problem. But about a dozen countries are not very cooperative, such as China.
Of the 1.3 million people in the United States facing final deportation orders, about 100,000 are Chinese, according to a government official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Out there
The migrants are part of an exodus of citizens frustrated by strict restrictions related to the coronavirus pandemic and the leadership of Xi Jinping’s authoritarian regime. The trend has been called the “escape philosophy,” with citizens fleeing to Japan, Europe and the United States.
“The main reason for me is the political environment,” Mark Xu, 35, an English teacher at a Chinese school, said in February as he waited to board a boat in Necoclí, Colombia, a northern coastal town. China is so suffocating, he added, that it is “hard to breathe.”
He was among about 100 Chinese migrants who set out that morning to make the journey across the dangerous Darién, the only land route from South America to the United States “Get Out of China” and “How to Escape.”
Over the past two years, the area has been one of the most difficult parts of a desperate journey for large numbers of migrants heading north. According to Panamanian authorities, 481,000 people have crossed the jungle so far this year, compared to 248,000 last year.
The majority of migrants were Venezuelans, Ecuadorians and Haitians fleeing crises in their countries, including economic and security problems. But this year more and more Chinese have made their way.
So many have crossed the border that Chinese citizens are now the fourth largest group crossing the jungle. Many fly to Turkey before continuing on to Ecuador and arriving in the United States. According to government figures, fewer than 15,000 Chinese migrants have been caught crossing the southern border illegally in the past decade.
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The historic level of migration across the southern border is a major political issue in the United States, where President Joe Biden is facing intense pressure to stem the flow and Chinese migrants make up a small fraction.
Most of those who came to the United States last year were middleclass adults who made their way to New York after being released from prison.
The city has also been a major destination for migrants from other nations, particularly Venezuelans who rely on the region’s resources, including their shelters. But only a few of the Chinese migrants stay in the emergency shelters. Instead, they go where Chinese citizens have gone for generations: Flushing, Queens — or, for some, China’s Manhattan.
“New York is a selfsufficient Chinese immigrant community,” said Reverend Mike Chan, executive director of the Chinese Christian Herald Crusade. New arrivals don’t need to speak English as many speak Mandarin or Cantonese, he added, which also makes finding a job easier. This type of network helps people find lawyers for immigration, housing, and other basic needs.
Their route to Flushing through a South American jungle makes the newcomers something special. In the past, most Chinese asylum seekers came with a visa and only applied for one once they were already in the United States. The last time there was an illegal influx of Chinese migrants crossing the sea was in the 1990s. But the current volume is much higher.
Asylumseeking migrants have to wait around six months after submitting their application before they can work legally. New entrants must wait years for their cases to be finalized in the system.
In general, Chinese asylum seekers have more success in immigration court than most. About 67% of applicants from China were granted asylum between 2001 and 2021, according to data analyzed by Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse.
And anyone who receives a deportation order is unlikely to be deported.
Muzaffar Chishti, senior researcher at the Migration Policy Institute, said as long as this remains the case, the migration trend will continue.
“When you come to the United States, you are more likely to stay,” he said. “So it’s definitely worth taking this risk.”
Still, the outflow of Chinese citizens, particularly those of working age, to the United States and elsewhere represents a longterm challenge for China, said Carl Minzner, senior fellow for Chinese studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.
For the first time in 60 years, China’s population is shrinking, with fewer births than deaths. And its economy is growing at its slowest pace in 40 years.
As other countries refused to accept their citizens, the United States withheld aid or used similar pressure to obtain cooperation. There is also the possibility of restricting access to certain visas, as was the case with Cambodia, Eritrea, Guinea and Sierra Leone in 2017.
But these arguments were unconvincing for China, which receives little US aid. And as relations with the United States have deteriorated over the years, the issue does not appear to be a priority.