A record number of Chinese asylum seekers, with help from social media, are making the dangerous trek across the U.S.-Mexico border, and it’s quickly becoming a hot-button political issue. Here’s why.
According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), since October 2023, almost 16,000 Chinese migrants have attempted to cross the U.S.-Mexico border — more than doubling the previous fiscal year’s total number of Chinese migrants in a matter of months. These unprecedented numbers are making Chinese nationals the fastest growing population to cross into the U.S. from Mexico.
CBP data reveals that from January to November of 2023, over 30,000 Chinese people were detained by border agents after crossing illegally. In 2021, meanwhile, there were only 323 crossings.
Chinese citizens now represent the fourth largest nationality to cross the Darién Gap — the dense, mountainous jungle connecting Columbia with Panama.
The Darién Gap was once seen as extraordinarily dangerous to traverse, but waves of migrants have established ways to navigate it as they move northward to the U.S.
The migrants say they are leaving due to a slump in China’s economy as it struggles to rebound from the COVID pandemic, as well as to escape strict lockdowns and restrictions.
“The unemployment rate is very high. People cannot find work,” Xi Yan, a Chinese writer who crossed the border in April, told the Associated Press. “For small business owners, they cannot sustain their businesses.”
