Jennie Taer

Investigative Reporter
August 18, 2023

Border Patrol agents recorded a roughly 800% increase in Chinese migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally, according to federal data updated Friday.

There were roughly 17,678 illegal migrant encounters of Chinese nationals between October 2022 and July, compared to 1,970 in all of fiscal year 2022, according to the data. In March, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) sent a memo exclusively obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation to agency officials warning of a surge in Chinese migrants.

“The loosened COVID protocols in China have allowed Chinese nationals to flee repressive rule in China and begin their journey to the United States seeking better living conditions,” CBP’s earlier memo stated of the reasons for the looming surge.

“According to CBP, custodial interviews indicate that Chinese citizens are requesting asylum claiming religious persecution by the Chinese Government due to their Christian faith. Additionally, Chinese nationals reportedly make their own smuggling arrangements for most of their journey, only utilizing elements of smuggling networks to cross the border,” the memo stated.

Additionally, Chinese migrants often pay between $15,000 and $30,000 to smugglers to reach the U.S. where they have been found with large sums of U.S. currency, Border Patrol agents previously told the DCNF.

“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.