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| China-Japan-Koreas |
| Chinese migrants find new loophole to enter US as Biden crackdown unravels |
| 2024-07-22 |
| [Daily Mail, where America gets it news] Chinese migrants seeking to illegally enter the U.S. are already establishing new routes into the country after a key transit hub was shut down. Messages between migrants suggest those fleeing Beijing are now flying to Bolivia before embarking on the arduous journey through South and Central America to the U.S. southern border. It comes after Ecuador withdrew visa waivers for Chinese nationals after it became flooded with travelers seeking passageway to the U.S. The news that migrants are simply shifting their starting point is a blow to the Biden administration as it seeks to get a grip on unprecedented border crossings. I'm sure they're SOOOOOO disappointed Gil Guerra, an immigration policy analyst at think tank the Niskanen Center, told DailyMail.com that he didn't think the closing of the Ecuador loophole would bring down numbers in the 'long-term.' A staggering 31,309 Chinese nationals have been intercepted at the U.S. southern border in the 2024 fiscal year to date. That is already almost 30 percent more than the 24,314 who crossed the border in 2023, with four months of the 2024 count still remaining. It marks an explosion in numbers since 2022, when only 2,176 Chinese nationals were apprehended. The unprecedented wave of illegal migration has sparked national security fears. Officials have linked some arrivals to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its affiliated People's Liberation Army (PLA). Ecuador had turned into the destination of choice for flights from Beijing as it offered visa-free entry for Chinese nationals. More than 48,000 travelers entered Ecuador from China in 2023, but only half left the country legally, according to official data by the Ecuadorian government. The discrepancy was the highest among any nationalities, according to the Niskanen Center, suggesting a significant proportion were using the country as a transit hub for illegal migration. In June, however, Ecuador temporarily suspended its visa waiver. The announcement was welcomed by the Department for Homeland Security, although it is unclear whether the move was the result of pressure from Washington. It left Suriname as the only other mainland country in the Americas that offered visa-free entry to Chinese nationals. This led some commentators to suggest that the former Dutch colony would become the next hotspot for Chinese migrants, citing growing economic ties between the countries. But messages on Telegram, an app where many Chinese migrants share their stories, indicate that some instead plan to start their journey from Bolivia, which offers Chinese citizens a tourist visa upon arrival, Al Jazeera reported. The latest figures available from the Suriname government are only from 2021, when 944 Chinese nationals arrived in the country. Guerra said he thought it unlikely the latter would become a new migrant hub as it was difficult to access and the route north would involve passing through volatile parts of Venezuela or northern Brazil. He did, however, predict a temporary dip in the number of Chinese migrants arriving in the U.S., as new networks took time to establish themselves. Guerra also pointed to the deportation of 116 Chinese migrants from the U.S. earlier this month, the first action of its kind in five years, as a potential deterrence. But he said the political and economic factors behind the migrations would remain the same and numbers would likely push up again after alternative routes were set up. |
| Posted by:Skidmark |
| #2 ^ Hard to get rid of the stink. |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2024-07-22 11:15 |
| #1 Is it really valid to speak of the Biden Administration anymore? |
| Posted by: alanc 2024-07-22 08:29 |