United States | More and more Chinese migrants are crossing the southern border

The influx of migrants entering the United States through the southern border increasingly includes people from a surprising place: China.

Despite the distances and difficulties of travel, more than 24,000 Chinese citizens have been apprehended when entering the United States from Mexico over the past year. According to government data, that’s more than in the previous 10 years combined.

Chinese people usually fly to Ecuador, where they do not need a visa. Then, like hundreds of thousands of other migrants from Central America, South America and places further afield, they pay smugglers to guide them through the dangerous jungle between Colombia and Panama, en route to the United States. Once there, they surrender to border authorities and many of them request asylum.

Most of them succeed, which inspires others to want to do the same. Chinese citizens are more successful than nationals of other countries in obtaining asylum in immigration courts. And those who don’t make it end up staying anyway, because China usually doesn’t take them back.

“Philosophy of Escape”

In the divided immigration debate, this is a little-discussed flaw in the American system: American authorities cannot force countries to take back their own citizens. In most cases this is not a problem. But a dozen countries aren’t very cooperative, and China is the worst offender.

Of the 1.3 million people in the United States under final deportation orders, about 100,000 are Chinese, according to an administration official who spoke under the guise of anonymity to discuss internal data.

The migrants are part of an exodus of citizens frustrated by harsh restrictions linked to the coronavirus pandemic and the direction of Xi Jinping’s authoritarian government. This trend has been called the “philosophy of flight”, with citizens escaping to Japan, Europe and the United States.

“The most important reason for me is the political environment,” Mark Xu, 35, an English teacher at a Chinese primary and middle school, said in February as he waited to board a boat in Necoclí, Colombia, a seaside town in the north of the country. China is so stifling, he added, that it has become “difficult to breathe.”

He was one of about a hundred Chinese migrants who were preparing that morning to begin the journey through the treacherous Darién Gap, the only land route to the United States from South America. Mr. Xu said he learned about the journey on YouTube and through Google searches, including “how to leave China” and “how to escape.”

From Quito to New York

For the past two years, the region has been one of the most difficult parts of a desperate journey for large numbers of migrants seeking to go north. So far, 481,000 people have crossed the jungle this year, compared to 248,000 last year, according to Panamanian authorities.

Most of the migrants are Venezuelans, Ecuadorians and Haitians fleeing crises in their countries, including economic and security problems. But this year, more and more Chinese have undertaken the trip.

There are so many of them that Chinese citizens now make up the fourth largest group crossing the jungle.

Many of them fly to Turkey before reaching Ecuador and heading to the United States.

More than 24,000 of them arrived in the United States in fiscal year 2023, according to government data. In the previous 10 years, fewer than 15,000 Chinese migrants were caught crossing the southern border illegally.

Historic levels of migration across the southern border are a major political issue in the United States, where President Joe Biden is under fierce pressure to stem the flow; Chinese migrants represent only a small fraction.

Most of those who came to the United States in the past year were middle-class adults who traveled to New York after being released.

New York is also a favored destination for migrants from other countries, particularly Venezuelans, who rely on the city’s resources, including its shelters. But few Chinese migrants stay in accommodation centers. Instead, they are going where Chinese citizens have been going for generations: Flushing, Queens – or, for some, China’s Manhattan.

“New York is home to a self-sufficient Chinese immigrant community,” said the Rev. Mike Chan, executive director of the Chinese Christian Herald Crusade, a faith group based in the neighborhood. Newcomers don’t need to speak English because many speak Mandarin or Cantonese, he adds, which also makes it easier to find a job. This type of network helps people find immigration lawyers, housing, and other essential needs.

Their journey to Flushing through a South American jungle is what makes the latest arrivals different. In the past, most Chinese asylum seekers arrived on a visa and filed their applications once they arrived in the United States. The last time such an influx of Chinese migrants entered illegally, they came by sea in the 1990s. But the current volume is much larger.

“I lost hope where I lived,” said a 29-year-old Chinese migrant who only wanted to identify himself by his nickname and last name, Little Xu. He arrived in New York in August after a two-month trip from China, which included walking through the jungle in rain so heavy that his shoes tore.

Before the courts

Migrants seeking asylum must wait approximately six months after submitting their application to obtain permission to work legally. People who arrived more recently will have to wait years before their file is processed by the system.

In general, Chinese asylum seekers have more success in immigration courts than most others. About 67% of Chinese applicants were granted asylum between 2001 and 2021, according to data analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University.

In addition, people who are subject to an expulsion order are not likely to be expelled.

Muzaffar Chishti, a senior fellow at the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute, said that as long as this happens, the migration trend will continue.

Still, the exodus of Chinese citizens, especially those of working age, to the United States and other countries poses a long-term challenge for China, according to Carl Minzner, China researcher at the Council. on Foreign Relations.

For the first time in 60 years, China’s population is declining, with fewer births than deaths. And its economy is growing at its slowest pace in 40 years.

In the case of other countries that have refused to take back their citizens, the United States has withheld aid money from them or used similar pressure tactics to gain their cooperation. The United States also has the option to restrict access to certain visas, as it did in 2017 with Cambodia, Eritrea, Guinea and Sierra Leone.

But these arguments have not been convincing for China, which receives little American aid. And as its relations with the United States have deteriorated over the years, the issue has not emerged as a priority.

This article was published in the New York Times