Did the number of Chinese citizens encountered at the southwest U.S. border increase by more than 50 times in two years?
In 2023, 37,440 Chinese citizens were encountered by authorities at the southwest U.S. border — 54 times more than the 689 in 2021.
Conservative commentator Rachel Campos-Duffy alluded to the increase during a Feb. 7, 2024, podcast with her husband, Sean Duffy, a Republican former congressman from Wisconsin.
CBS News, which reported the increase, said many Chinese migrants said they left to escape a repressive political climate and sluggish economy.
The Associated Press reported the same reasons.
Three years of COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions left many Chinese unemployed, and many are disillusioned with Communist Party crackdowns on free speech and religion, CNN reported.
The Chinese typically fly into Ecuador, where they don't need a visa, then pay smugglers to guide them through the jungle between Colombia and Panama, The New York Times reported.
Once in the U.S., they turn themselves in to border officials and many seek asylum, the Times reported.