He Bought a Coffin for His Dad, Then Fled China for the US

Report goes inside the growth in illegal immigration from China
By Newser Editors,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 29, 2024 9:24 AM CDT
Number of Chinese Migrants Illegally Entering US Has Surged
A vehicle drives along the US side of the US-Mexico border wall in Nogales, Ariz. on Tuesday, June 25, 2024.   (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, Pool, File)

Lei Xiaoyue assumed that once he left China, there would be no way back in—not even to bury his father when the time came. So as the Washington Post reports, he purchased a coffin and left it in his father's home, then took his wife and daughter and made a 2-month, 11-country journey that ended with them illegally entering the US. The Post analyzed 4.1 million US immigration court records stretching back a decade to get a better sense of where migrants are coming from and where they are ending up, and it found China-related numbers are surging: US authorities logged encounters with 3,813 Chinese migrants who illegally crossed into the US from Mexico in 2022; in the 18 months since, that number topped 55,000. Other standout details from its report:

  • As for where migrants end up, the Post reports that Los Angeles has been replaced as the top destination by the Flushing area of Queens. NYC immigration judges approve asylum claims at higher rates, and "the neighborhood's well-established Chinatown provides a soft landing."
  • Historically about 50% of Chinese migrants to illegally enter the US were male; that figure has increased to about two-thirds in the last year.
  • Some US lawmakers—among them GOP Rep. Mark Green, who chairs the House Homeland Security Committee—have raised concerns about the potential for Chinese spies to enter the US this way and have called for more intensive screening of detained Chinese migrants.
  • Analysts tell the Post those with "education, capital, and connections" were historically most likely to depart China for the US. But VPNs, TikTok, and other social media are allowing more would-be migrants to get past Chinese government censorship and access instructions on how to make the journey.
  • Despite the uptick in numbers, Foreign Policy notes Chinese nationals account for just 2% of all migrant encounters at the border since October.
(Read the full article, which also delves into scammers who are targeting the migrants.)

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