SAN DIEGO, California — The number of Chinese migrants illegally crossing the US-Mexico border has hit a new record with 24,200 arrested in the last six months, mostly in San Diego County, California, according to federal data.
The huge influx is already equal to the number of Chinese people arrested for illegally crossing into the US in 2023 — which itself set a record for being more than in the previous ten years combined.
Taking advantage of holes in the border wall and the Biden administration’s lax enforcement of border policy, Chinese people are buying plane tickets to Mexico and paying smugglers to take them to the areas where its easiest to cross into California.
Overwhelmed Customs and Border Protection (CBP) then arrest the individuals, mostly single men, and keep them in detention for 24 to 48 hours for processing, before releasing them into the US to pursue asylum claims, according to sources.
In January security concerns were raised after it emerged CBP cut the number of questions its processors were required to ask from roughly 40 to just five — because they were overwhelmed by the number of Chinese people they were arresting.
A family of Chinese migrants who had just crossed over the border in the last few days told The Post they had no immediate problems forcing them to leave their homeland, unlike migrants from countries like Haiti and Venezuela where civil order has largely broken down.
They said they had spent around $75,000 to come to the US, money earned from their business back in China, after hearing success stories from relatives who had already made it across.
“We went from Thailand and Turkey and we followed a route shared on social media,” they said.
Another group of Chinese migrants waiting for Border Patrol in Campo, a remote stretch of the Mountain Empire area of southeastern San Diego County, told The Post their journey had taken many weeks from China and they were ultimately headed for New York.
The migrants wait to be found and picked up by Border Patrol, who escort them across the dangerous mountain region into custody where they are evaluated to see if they have a genuine asylum claim.
In addition to the 24,000 arrested for crossing illegally, 17,700 Chinese migrants have been legally admitted into the US after making arrangements to enter the country through the CBP One mobile app.
“There are families who have experienced political oppression at the hands of the Chinese government and many are political dissidents,” immigration attorney Erika Pinheiro previously told The Post.
“We have this understanding of asylum seekers as poor and [that] they are only coming to America for economic opportunities, but the people that I’m meeting [at the San Diego] border tend to be at least middle class, if not upper-middle class.”
Those who are released from border patrol custody are taken by bus to San Diego and left at a local trolley station. There a group of Chinese men operate informal ‘taxis’ for those from their homeland.
The men told The Post they’re present to assist members of their own community because they don’t speak English and or know where to go.
“When they first arrive here, they don’t understand the language and are very scared. When they meet us, they will feel at ease,” one of the Chinese men waiting for migrants told The Post.
“The Chinese man who just got off the bus had his phone, wallet and ID stolen in Mexico. I will arrange accommodations for him tonight and treat him to a meal. I will also help him contact his family,” he said speaking through a translation app.
However, the same group attempted to block The Post from taking photos and recording them.
Local officials also expressed concern about the informal and unlicensed taxi line, concerned with the security of both the local communities and the migrants themselves, who are in a particularly vulnerable position.
“I am very concerned about the fact some of these Chinese cab drivers are not just here picking anybody up, they’re picking up only Chinese people, mostly Chinese women,” El Cajon Mayor Bill Wells told The Post.
“There’s no coordinated effort, there’s nobody there from the federal government, there’s nobody there from the city of San Diego or even the county of San Diego anymore [to help] so they’re bewildered and they’re vulnerable people,” San Diego County Supervisor Jim Desmond told The Post.