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Chinese migrants flooding southern border spark national security fears
Fox News Griff Jenkins reports on the surge in Chinese nationals slipping through the southern border.
Newly released figures released by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) show that the number of Chinese migrants pouring across the southern border has surged since this time last year, raising national security concerns.
CBP sources tell Fox News Digital that more than 20,000 Chinese nationals have illegally crossed since the new fiscal year began on Oct. 1 – and more than 90% of them crossed into the San Diego sector in places like Jacumba, a small town about 60 miles east of the city.
That’s where Border Patrol has seen record-breaking figures, with a more than 500% increase in Chinese migrants from this time last year, making them the fastest-growing demographic entering the country illegally.
Migrants in line in Jacumba, California. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
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For context, there were only 450 total Chinese encounters in all of fiscal year 2021 and the San Diego sector has eclipsed that in just the past 48 hours.
Border sources say 269 Chinese migrants were apprehended by CBP officials in a single day this week.
A lot of the illegal crossings in Jacumba occur where there is a small gap in the wall, allowing illegal immigrants to slip through on a daily basis.
Fox News crews have witnessed suspected human smugglers pulling up to the border wall in SUVs and offloading migrants, who then walk through the gap.
The influx of Chinese migrants has raised concerns that some may have links to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Mexican workers set up a tent for processing asylum seekers along the border fence on Jan. 30, 2024, in Jacumba Hot Springs, California. (Qian Weizhong/VCG via Getty Images)
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“It’s just as important to focus on what’s in the flow as opposed to how large the flow is from a national security perspective,” says a senior CBP official who asked not to be identified.
Brandon Judd, the president of the National Border Patrol Council (NBPC), which represents all rank-and-file Border Patrol agents nationwide, told Fox News that the majority of the Chinese border crossers are single adult males of military age.
“That is a very scary prospect, we know that China does not like us, we know that we are in the crosshairs of China,” Judd said.
“And they are exporting so many people to our country, and you have to really fear about that.”
According to a segment on “60 Minutes,” some Chinese migrants have purportedly been using videos on the China-owned social media platform TikTok to learn “step-by-step instructions” for how to find gaps in the border wall and hire smugglers.
Migrants line up for hot food prepared by volunteers in Jacumba, California. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
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The huge influx in California comes as encounters along the Texas border have slowed dramatically, after the Lone Star State beefed up security along its border and clashed with the Biden administration in court.
January migrant encounters along the southern border totaled 176,205, showing a significant decrease from December’s record 300,000.
On Tuesday, the House of Representatives voted to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for his handling of the porous border.
Meanwhile, CBP says it has seized 7,000 pounds of fentanyl to date in FY 2024 through January. The agency says it has stopped more fentanyl in the last two years than in the previous five years combined.
Michael Dorgan is a writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business.
You can send tips to [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @M_Dorgan.