More Chinese-based illegal immigrants were encountered at the U.S. southern border in just two days than in all of fiscal year 2021, according to Fox News’ Bill Melugin.
There were approximately 262 Chinese migrants caught by Border Patrol at the San Diego sector on May 1, as well as 223 on May 2, a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) source told Melugin. Only 323 Chinese nationals were apprehended by Border Patrol at the southern border throughout all of fiscal year 2021, according to CBP data.
There has been a surge of Chinese immigrants illegally crossing the southern border under the Biden administration. There were 1,970 Chinese illegal migrant apprehensions at the southern border in fiscal year 2022 and 24,048 in fiscal year 2023.
In the first six months of fiscal year 2024, there have been more than 24,200 apprehensions, the data shows.
More Chinese nationals amongst the latest busload of migrants that was just released to the street in San Diego moments ago. We’ve seen dozens of Chinese released here today. More than 21,000 Chinese have been apprehended by Border Patrol in just San Diego sector since Oct. 1st: pic.twitter.com/ifAgxs4TtY
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) February 23, 2024
“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 affairs expert Gordon Chang told the Daily Caller News Foundation in May 2023, noting that some of the migrants might have been malevolent actors.
“When I first saw 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 Biden administration loosened vetting process standards for Chinese immigrants seeking to enter the country illegally in April 2023, according to an internal CBP email previously obtained by the DCNF. The email ordered Border Patrol agents to cut down on the number of questions asked from 40 to five, fast-tracking the migrants’ release into the U.S.
There were approximately 1.6 million migrant encounters at the southern border in fiscal year 2021, compared to over 2 million in fiscal year 2023 and over a million thus far in fiscal year 2024, according to CBP data.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
