NewsNation

Why are Chinese migrants fastest-growing group at southern border?

Aleksandra Bush

(NewsNation) — Customs and Border Protection reported more than 24,000 Chinese migrant encounters at the southern border last fiscal year, making the group the fastest-growing demographic crossing into the United States there.

Some migrants told NewsNation reporters they were escaping the Chinese Communist government and planned to seek asylum in the United States.


Zhang Kiayu, a Chinese migrant who made the journey to the U.S. in the spring of 2023, said he left China because of the strict COVID-19 policies. Kiayu said he was “yearning for American freedom.”

Kiayu said his journey began in Ecuador, where many migrants from China fly to because there is no visa requirement. Migrants then travel north to the U.S.-Mexico border.

This month, sources in Mexico told NewsNation that some migrants are flying into Tijuana Airport before being guided by smugglers to breach the border. Border officials say some Chinese migrants are reportedly willing to pay cartels up to $35,000 for smuggling services.  

For many, it pays off.

JACUMBA, CA – November 11: Chinese Migrants attempting to cross in to the U.S. from Mexico are detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection at the border November 11, 2023 in Jacumba, California. (Photo by Nick Ut/Getty Images)
A Chinese migrant sit in front of his tent near the US-Mexico border fence in Jacumba, California, on December 6, 2023. Hundreds of migrants who cross into the United States each day are being herded into open-air camps, where they have no access to food or water, with some are left to sleep on the open ground in a desert riddled with scorpions and snakes, activists say. (Photo by VALERIE MACON / AFP) (Photo by VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty Images)
JACUMBA, CA – November 12: Chinese Migrants attempting to cross in to the U.S. from Mexico sit by a fire as they are detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection at the border November 12, 2023 in Jacumba, California. (Photo by Nick Ut/Getty Images)
A Chinese migrant sits in front of his tent in a migrant camp on the US side of the border wall separating Mexico from the US in Jacumba, California, December 6, 2023. Hundreds of migrants who cross into the United States each day are being herded into open-air camps, where they have no access to food or water, with some are left to sleep on the open ground in a desert riddled with scorpions and snakes, activists say. (Photo by VALERIE MACON / AFP) (Photo by VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty Images)

More than 50% of Chinese asylum applications were granted in the 2023 fiscal year, according to the Department of Justice. It’s a much higher rate than the average across all nationalities, which was only 14%.

So far in fiscal year 2024, the pace of Chinese migrants crossing the border hasn’t slowed. CBP agents encountered more than 18,000 in the first four months of the fiscal year. In 2021, that number was just 450.  

Tammy Lin, an immigration attorney and adjunct professor at the University of San Diego, told NewsNation partner Border Report that the U.S. has consistently had high numbers of asylum-seekers from China, but she’s not surprised to see the increase at the border.

“Processing times in U.S. embassies in China are taking so long,” said Lin. “Also, it’s getting harder for them to get tourist visas. Some of these folks used to come here as tourists and students before ultimately deciding, ‘I can’t return to my country,’ and seeking asylum. Now they can’t get into the U.S. that way, so they take these desperate measures to do the journey over from China, over to Mexico or South America and over to the U.S. border.”

In 2016, the U.S. issued 2.2 million temporary visas to Chinese migrants; that number dropped to just 160,000 in 2022.

Social media has also likely played a role in the border crossings by allowing potential migrants to better understand the process and see what the journey is like.

“I think it’s a sign of how bad the situations are from wherever they are coming from,” Lin said.