Chinese migrants coming through in large numbers

[Lance]

This appeared on 60 Minutes Comments?

After China's prolonged and strict COVID lockdown destroyed her business, a woman decided to leave her two young children with family to travel to Mexico and cross into the U.S. through a hole at the border.

She's far from alone: Chinese migrants are the fastest growing group trying to cross into the U.S. from Mexico. Last year, U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported 37,000 Chinese citizens were apprehended as they illegally crossed the border; that's 50 times more than two years earlier.

Many of the migrants say they made the journey to escape China's increasingly repressive political climate and sluggish economy. The mom, through a translator, told "60 Minutes" that what motivated her was more than economic reasons and could be summed up in one word.
"Freedom," she said.

How Chinese migrants are getting into the U.S.
Migrants, undeterred by policies designed to reduce illegal entries, have been crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in unprecedented numbers. Last year, U.S. Customs and Border Protection recorded two-and-a-half million instances of detaining or turning away people attempting to cross into the United states from Mexico.

One point of entry is a 4-foot gap at the end of a border fence 60 miles east of San Diego. Smugglers in SUVs race along the border fence and drop migrants off near the gap. Over four days, "60 Minutes" witnessed nearly 600 migrants — adults and children — pass through the gap and onto U.S. soil, unchecked.

One man, a college graduate, said his trip from China took 40 days. He said he had traveled through Thailand, Morocco, Ecuador, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica and Nicaragua on his way to the U.S border.

The gap is a global destination, littered with travel documents from around the world. With the help of a translator, "60 Minutes" met some of the Chinese migrants coming through, including a teacher, a banker, some small business owners and a factory worker.

Unlike the migrants who make the grueling journey through Central America, some middle class migrants from China arrive with rolling bags. Some said they took flights all the way to Mexico.

Many flew from China to Ecuador because it doesn't require a visa for Chinese nationals. Then they flew to Tijuana. The migrants said they connected with smugglers and paid $400 for the hour-long drive to the gap at the border.

The migrants knew about the hole because of TikTok. Posts on the app reviewed by "60 Minutes" featured step-by-step instructions for hiring smugglers and detailed directions to the border gap.

Once through the hole, the migrants walk about half a mile down a dusty road and wait in line for U.S. Border Patrol to arrive so they can surrender.

Why more Chinese migrants are turning to the U.S.-Mexico border
For years, millions of Chinese entered the U.S. with a visa that allowed them to visit, work or study. But in the last few years, those visas have been increasingly difficult to secure as tensions between the two countries have grown. In 2016, the U.S. granted 2.2 million temporary visas to Chinese nationals. Just 160,000 were granted in 2022.

With visas more difficult to acquire, many are turning to the U.S. southern border, where they cross illegally, then wait to be picked up by Border Patrol agents.

Jacqueline Arellano has used her Spanish skills in her eight years volunteering on the border, but lately, she's been relying on translation apps to communicate with Chinese migrants. Arellano believes it would be safer and more efficient for migrants to go to ports of entry.

At the legal points of entry, asylum-seekers can request an appointment to enter the U.S. through CBP One mobile app. The CBP One system is glitchy. Volunteers who work with migrants told us the wait is 3-4 months to secure an appointment with the app.

About two hours after "60 Minutes" watched migrants arrive through the border fence hole, Border Patrol pulled up and shared recorded instructions in Mandarin. The migrants were driven to a detention facility near San Diego. Once there, migrants get background checks and some are interviewed. Usually, they're released within 72 hours and can then begin the process of filing asylum claims.

Based on a "60 Minutes" review of Immigration and Customs Enforcement data, there are at least 36,000 Chinese who have been ordered by U.S. immigration courts to leave the country, but China often refuses to take back citizens and the U.S. can't force China to accept them.

Last year, 55% of Chinese migrants were granted asylum compared with 14% of migrants from other countries, according to the Department of Justice.

With the odds in their favor –and instructions on TikTok to guide them– there's little to discourage more Chinese migrants from coming through the gap, something that's made California resident Jerry Shuster's life very difficult.

"Nobody do nothing about it."
Shuster, a 75-year-old retiree, owns the land near the border gap where the migrants wait to be picked up by Border Patrol. He owns 17 acres just north of the border fence and a quarter mile outside of Jacumba Hot Springs, California. Shuster came to the U.S. from Yugoslavia. He describes his immigration journey as coming "through the front door."

"And I knock on this door," Shuster said. "I didn't bust the door down to come over here."

The surge of migrants onto his property has been a frustrating experience for him. He said authorities haven't done anything to help. "When they come over here, they come with the suitcases. They come prepared with the computers just like they got off on a Norwegian cruise ship yesterday," Shuster said.

Migrants began arriving on his property in May. He went to investigate some smoke coming from his property and found migrants burning trees to stay warm while they waited for Border Patrol to pick them up. Sometimes that can take a few hours. Other times, it takes days.

One day several months ago, he implored the migrants to stop burning his trees. He said they surrounded him –so he went home and got his gun. Shuster said he was arrested after he fired his gun into the air.

"I'm just protecting my own land," he said.

Shuster wasn't charged, but his gun was confiscated.

Since, Shuster estimates 3,000 migrants a week have come through the hole. Shuster's property is littered with the trash and tents migrants have left behind. He said officials know about the hole and that he's asked for it to be fixed.

"'You gotta call Washington D.C,' that's what they say," Shuster said.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection said their agents do not have authority to stop people from coming through gaps like the one by Shuster's home. Agents can only arrest the migrants after they enter illegally. As for closing the gap, the agency said it is on their priority list but would require money from Congress.

[david johnson]

I welcome all legal migrants to be a part of this nation. The illegal migrants should be offered the chance to naturalize. If they refuse, they must be sent home.

[Rach3]

I welcome all legal migrants to be a part of this nation. The illegal migrants should be offered the chance to naturalize. If they refuse, they must be sent home.

And the message needs to be made loud and clear that the illegals are spoiling the financial/housing opportunities here for the legals. Of course, the House GOP has nixed the $$ required for better border enforcement / immigration policies on order of their Fuhrer.

[Belle]

Why in the world would any country want to stop Chinese operatives from coming illegally into their country, or gang members or Islamic terrorists bent on revenge?? It makes no sense.

Love is love, no human is illegal. Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

Stupid doesn't even cut it. And all on the Democrats' watch. Take a bow, people.

[diegobueno]

The Republican solution to immigration is to increase income inequality to the same oppressive levels as in 3rd world countries and Asian dictatorships. Once living conditions for the 99% are as miserable as they are in other parts of the world, no one will ever want to come here.

[Rach3]

The Republican solution to immigration is to increase income inequality to the same oppressive levels as in 3rd world countries and Asian dictatorships. Once living conditions for the 99% are as miserable as they are in other parts of the world, no one will ever want to come here.

Bingo !

[Rach3]

Biden's border flubs/stasis:

https://www.axios.com/newsletters/axios ... are#story0


https://www.axios.com/newsletters/axios ... are#story1

[Lance]

You know, I have nothing against immigration - as long as it is done properly. I am here in the USA because of grandfather immigrants coming around 1900 - from Slavic countries and England. They did it the right way coming through Ellis Island, getting a job working (some of my immigrant family were counts and had status) and left to work in shoe factories, taking care of their families, buying and building their own homes, paying taxes - and making it possible for me to be here. I fully understand why all these migrants want "the American Dream." If I was living under the conditions in Venezuela and other places, I would probably be coming here as well. But America was not ready for these enormous numbers just coming through in droves. I'm sure many are disappointed and wonder now if they should have left at all. It must be a nightmare for all these people. Unfortunately, the "American Dream" is not even available to American citizens at this particular point in time; other countries are experiencing the same problems. Can it ever be fixed?

I welcome all legal migrants to be a part of this nation. The illegal migrants should be offered the chance to naturalize. If they refuse, they must be sent home.

[Belle]

The Republican solution to immigration is to increase income inequality to the same oppressive levels as in 3rd world countries and Asian dictatorships. Once living conditions for the 99% are as miserable as they are in other parts of the world, no one will ever want to come here.

Dear me, it's hard to know where to start with this!! The GOP don't want illegal immigration; I'm not American and even I know that. Yes, your government wants you living like people in Somalia. That way they can raise a lot of tax (from god knows where because nobody is earning anything) to put in their own pockets.

You just couldn't make this stuff up!!!!!!!!!!! Industrial strength sigh.

[Belle]

You know, I have nothing against immigration - as long as it is done properly. I am here in the USA because of grandfather immigrants coming around 1900 - from Slavic countries and England. They did it the right way coming through Ellis Island, getting a job working (some of my immigrant family were counts and had status) and left to work in shoe factories, taking care of their families, buying and building their own homes, paying taxes - and making it possible for me to be here. I fully understand why all these migrants want "the American Dream." If I was living under the conditions in Venezuela and other places, I would probably be coming here as well. But America was not ready for these enormous numbers just coming through in droves. I'm sure many are disappointed and wonder now if they should have left at all. It must be a nightmare for all these people. Unfortunately, the "American Dream" is not even available to American citizens at this particular point in time; other countries are experiencing the same problems. Can it ever be fixed?

I welcome all legal migrants to be a part of this nation. The illegal migrants should be offered the chance to naturalize. If they refuse, they must be sent home.

Bravo. You always make such common sense (which isn't all that common nowadays).

With the world in a dangerous position surely you'd want to monitor potential terrorist threats and Chinese operatives. They must barely believed the good fortune they have in being able to arrive undeterred. Meanwhile, fighting aged men are abandoning their women and children to regimes which keep them in poverty and misery. Misogyny much?

I fear for the good people of the USA who are being railroaded by utopian extremists and cowed into thinking that allowing the world into your country unfettered will make them morally better people (in their own lunchboxes, that is).

I remember the sobering words of a high level environmental bureaucrat when we were growing chickens and dealing with myriad threats to our huge business: "ma'am, you'll have to protect your patch or you'll lose it". Zip. Bop. Whirr. Message understood.

David Johnson; why would illegal immigrants refuse to naturalize? Isn't that what they're after? As far as I can tell, they're seeking 'asylum'. It's as plain to me as the nose on my face; you are either a refugee or you are not. The situation in your country is not the problem of the USA.

[diegobueno]

The Republican solution to immigration is to increase income inequality to the same oppressive levels as in 3rd world countries and Asian dictatorships. Once living conditions for the 99% are as miserable as they are in other parts of the world, no one will ever want to come here.

Dear me, it's hard to know where to start with this!! The GOP don't want illegal immigration; I'm not American and even I know that. Yes, your government wants you living like people in Somalia. That way they can raise a lot of tax (from god knows where because nobody is earning anything) to put in their own pockets.

You just couldn't make this stuff up!!!!!!!!!!! Industrial strength sigh.

This word salad of yours would be easier to respond to if it made any sense. Think for a moment, of WHY people keep coming to the US. They're coming from places where the rich have already siphoned off all the wealth into their pockets, leaving the rest of the country doing the hard work for next to no money. They're coming from places where they get jailed for protesting their miserable conditions. They're coming from countries in Latin America where elected governments have been toppled with the help of foreign governments (including ours) and replaced with military regimes. And of course they come from China because China has a repressive government since 1949. People still look up to the US as a place where they can find a better life. Republicans have been relentlessly promoting tax cuts for the richest Americans and spending cuts on programs that benefit middle and lower class Americans. They haven't yet figured out that once everyone is poor there'll be no base for tax revenue. The gap between rich and poor grows wider and wider until eventually it will resemble those 3rd world countries producing our immigrants.

[Belle]

My comments were a straightforward response to yours. The fact that you see those as a word salad - that is not an argument. I agree with your last sentence but you fail to understand that admitting the world's dispossessed will only hasten your journey there!! Your choice, of course.

The USA, Australia, Canada, the UK and NZ are not responsible for the welfare of rest of the world. We've had to build our own nations: in Australia our beginnings were a few convict ships and hostile conditions in a land of savage climate. It's not so very long ago that Dickens portrayed the fetid, unhealthy and existential crisis of post Industrial England. Through the union movement and technology the people were able to dig themselves out of that hole, for the most. The fact that it took 100 more years is irrelevant; history is laden with those same narratives.

Revolutions are needed in those countries from which those (mostly men) are fleeing. And revolutions come at a cost; but they exact a greater cost if they choose to sit and endure. The British empire left many of those nations in full working order and it's important to remember that.

Suggest you read Orwell's "The Road to Wigan Pier" to see how 'good' things were in the UK in the coal-mining towns between the wars. Those people did not leave Britain in droves; on the contrary, when the war came they went into uniform as this gave them the job 'security' and esteem they lacked in the pits. They paid a terrible price because many of them were killed. We don't refer to them as "the greatest generation" for nothing!

And if you read any of the books of Prof. Niall Ferguson you'll see that institutions were the predominant factor in the success of the European world. The successful interaction between those institutions enabled progress and growth - and not some top-down ideological diktat. They did that well in the USSR and other communist countries where everybody had a job and nobody was doing anything.

[Rach3]

This word salad of yours would be easier to respond to if it made any sense.... Republicans have been relentlessly promoting tax cuts for the richest Americans and spending cuts on programs that benefit middle and lower class Americans. They haven't yet figured out that once everyone is poor there'll be no base for tax revenue. The gap between rich and poor grows wider and wider until eventually it will resemble those 3rd world countries producing our immigrants.

Bingo. Again !

[Belle]

This word salad of yours would be easier to respond to if it made any sense.... Republicans have been relentlessly promoting tax cuts for the richest Americans and spending cuts on programs that benefit middle and lower class Americans. They haven't yet figured out that once everyone is poor there'll be no base for tax revenue. The gap between rich and poor grows wider and wider until eventually it will resemble those 3rd world countries producing our immigrants.

Bingo. Again !

Rach, I am always in agreement with your musical tastes and commentary but on this I feel you are hopelessly misguided. It's something one would find in the old Socialist Weekly of the 1960s - when people weren't even wearing seatbelts in their cars!! So yesterday.

Wider reading required, mate.

[diegobueno]

Karl Marx knew what the problem was. His solution to the problem was unrealistic and unworkable, but he identified the problem.