A record number of Chinese migrants have crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in the last 18 months

SEATTLE - Over the past 18 months, more than 55,000 Chinese migrants have crossed illegally from Mexico into the United States, up from only 3,813 accounted in 2022. This influx is worrying U.S. authorities about an even larger wave given China's population and the difficulty of carrying out deportations.

Most of the Chinese migrants have settled in California and New York, with many of them arriving to the neighborhood of Flushing, in Queens, which has surpassed Los Angeles to become the top destination for the most recent Chinese migrants, according to a Washington Post analysis of U.S. immigration court data.

Republican leaders, including former president Donald Trump, have referred to the migrants as "fighting-age men" and have warned that the influx could mask espionage activities. Democrats, analysts and migrants themselves have pointed to China's unemployment crisis and repressive government instead.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection encountered 37,439 Chinese migrants at the southern border last year, almost 10 times as many as in 2022. Through the first five months of 2024, CBP agents registered 16,270 Chinese migrant encounters, a 52% jump from the 10,728 encounters during the same period last year.

Immigration experts, aid workers in San Diego and migrants themselves have cited financial hardship from China's economic slowdown and political persecution as primary motives behind the influx of Chinese migrants.

"There was an economic downturn, COVID-19 restrictions and human rights violations. And then, with migration, once a few people go, it sort of opens the pathway for other people to go," said Idean Selehyan, a University of North Texas political scientist and senior fellow in immigration policy at the Washington, D.C.-based think tank, Niskanen Center.

Selehyan added that Chinese migrants may also be attracted to the U.S. by its relatively favorable approval rate for Chinese nationals seeking asylum. In 2023, federal immigration courts approved 55% of all asylum applications from Chinese nationals, according to data from the U.S. Department of Justice, compared to only 4% for Mexican nationals and 28% for Venezuelans.

Before the U.S. saw an increase in Chinese migrants trying to cross the southern border, Ecuador was another popular gateway for many Chinese migrants. Things changed in July 1, as the Ecuadorian government canceled visa-free travel for Chinese nationals, citing an increase in irregular migration. According to a May analysis by the Niskanen Center, Chinese nationals entered Ecuador 48,381 times in 2023 but left only 24,240 times.

Last year, Chinese President Xi Jinping met with President Biden to discuss immigration enforcement in San Francisco, forging a new area of tentative cooperation between both governments. In March, the first U.S. deportation flight carried eight Chinese migrants, a second flight in June had 116 deportees.

Over the last three years, China has been the largest source of illegal migration from any nation outside the Americas, according to data from the Department of Homeland Security.