Border Patrol: Record Number of Chinese Citizens Entering US Illegally

By Bethany Blankley (Center Square)

According to data from US Customs and Border Protection, the number of Chinese nationals entering the US illegally increased significantly in the run-up to the 2020 election under the Biden administration.

Nationwide, 18,395 Chinese nationals were arrested in fiscal year 2020; 23,471 in fiscal year 2021; 27,756 in fiscal year 2022; And 10,587 in the fiscal year to date.

Most are single adults. In fiscal year 2020, 18,014 arrests were made of single adults; In fiscal year 2021 there were 23,172 single adults; There were 26,447 in fiscal 2022 and 9,772 in fiscal 2023 so far.

Those numbers include Border Patrol and Office of Field Operations data, including in Southwest Florida, where fears continue to grow, prompting Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to declare a state of emergency last month.

According to the data, more Chinese citizens are entering illegally through the northern border than in the past.

On the northern border, in fiscal year 2020, 1,464 Chinese nationals were arrested; In fiscal year 2021, 897 people were arrested; In fiscal year 2022, 6,698 arrests were made; And so far in fiscal year 2023, 2,795 people have been arrested, according to the data.

Chinese nationals made such a significant number of routes that rescue beacons were installed on the southern border and instructions were in Mandarin. Gotaways are those who intentionally evade capture from law enforcement after illegally entering ports of entry. At least 1.2 million rides have been reported since President Joe Biden took office, a record, though the number is expected to be significantly higher because not all rides are recorded.

Rescue Beacons located along the southern border assist Border Patrol agents in rescuing foreign nationals who attempt to make it through the desert-like and remote terrain. The structures are tall and white and look like antennae with a blue light on top. About eye level is a red button and a sign with instructions in English, Spanish and Mandarin that reads: “Press the red button if you need help. Help will come. Do not leave the area.”

Beacons have instructions with a diagram showing people how to push the button. Once they hit it, a signal is sent to a nearby Border Patrol station so agents can come and rescue them. If the beacons weren’t there, people who rely on them would likely die, law enforcement officials told The Center Square.

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Since 2008, the Border Patrol has set up six beacons in Brooks County, Texas, for example, KSAT News reported in 2021, when bodies began arriving in that area.

The burden of finding the bodies fell primarily on the Brooks County Sheriff’s Office, whose deputies recovered a record 917 bodies of foreign nationals, according to information The Center Square obtained from the sheriff’s office. In 2021, his staff found 119 bodies; In 2020, 34.

For example, the South Texas region stretching from McAllen to Fulfurius in Brooks County is mostly barren farmland full of rough, unforgiving terrain that is especially dangerous during the summer months when temperatures reach over 100 degrees. When the foreign nationals reached Falfurrias on foot, about 82 miles directly north of Reynosa, Mexico, they were dehydrated and unable to continue their journey on foot, officials told The Center Square. After illegally entering Texas between ports of entry near McAllen, officials say they traveled north parallel to Highway 281, following pipelines and railroad tracks that pass through ranchers’ property to avoid detection. When they reached Brooks County, dehydrated and exhausted, many did not make it. Many were also left behind by smugglers, the sheriff’s office explained to The Center Square.

Fentanyl has also poured across the southern border in recent years, with precursors typically manufactured in China and shipped to Mexico. Mexican cartels then counterfeited the predecessors’ prescription pills and/or made other drugs along with them. Through an extensive trafficking network, they primarily organized the smuggling of fentanyl and other drugs into the United States through the southern border.

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Govt. Through Greg Abbott’s Operation Lone Star, Texas law enforcement officials have seized more than 360 million lethal doses of fentanyl since March 2021, enough to kill more than the entire United States. Later Border Patrol and DEA agents. Collectively, the companies said they could kill several times the total US population. Two milligrams is considered a lethal dose.

Several attorneys general, led by Florida, have called on the Biden administration to classify fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction. Abbott last fall, and now multiple attorneys general, called on the Biden administration to designate Mexican cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. They did so as members of Congress and state legislatures filed bills to bar Chinese companies from buying land in the United States, led by Florida and Texas.

Syndicated with permission from Center Square.