In the wake of China abandoning its strict “zero COVID” policy, U.S. border officials have recorded a surge of Chinese immigrants crossing the southern border this year.
Between Oct. 1, 2022, and the end of February this year, U.S. Customs and Border Protection encountered nearly 3,000 Chinese nationals. This represents a more than 700 percent spike from the same period in 2022.
A second analysis by Axios put that number at more than 4,000 for 2023.
In February alone, there were 1,368 encounters with illegal Chinese immigrants. By contrast, U.S. border agents recorded just 55 encounters during the same month in 2022.
Analysts say the deepening income gap in China combined with the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) draconian pandemic lockdowns is driving the surge in migration.
The ominous arrival of a new wave of Chinese illegal immigrants occurs against the backdrop of an ongoing battle against CCP agent espionage on American soil.
Since 2019, U.S. universities have become ground zero for spy activities involving CCP actors.
Reports of espionage and the unlawful exchange of information have been linked to at least five U.S. colleges across Texas, California, Kansas, Massachusetts, and Illinois in the past four years.
In October 2022, U.S. prosecutors charged 13 Chinese nationals for attempting to “unlawfully exert influence in the United States” on behalf of the CCP.
“No country poses a greater, more severe or long-term threat to our national security and economic prosperity than China,” FBI agent, Joseph Bonavolonta told reporters after a Texas professor was accused of spying for the benefit of the CCP.
He added, “China’s communist government’s goal, simply put, is to replace the United States as the world superpower.”
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) introduced legislation to stop Chinese spies in American education with the Stop Higher Education Espionage and Theft Act as a counter maneuver, saying, “China is the single greatest geopolitical threat facing the United States, and the CCP is a profoundly malign influence.”
