According to the U.S. Census Bureau, approximately 5.4 million persons of Chinese birth or ancestry already live in the United States, including about 290,086 students. Most of them are–or originally were, before their visas ran out–here legally. But as of 2019, according to estimates by the Migration Policy Institute, at least 390,000 were living here illegally–with more on the way. Because the number of illegal Chinese in America is spiking.
According to the U.S. Border Patrol, so far this fiscal year, 1,667 illegal Chinese migrants have been encountered at our southern border, 91 percent of whom were single adults. On March 16, the CBP encountered 90 Chinese nationals, the largest number reported in a single day since 2010.
Most illegal Chinese migrants begin their journey northward to the U.S. after landing in Ecuador. From there, they travel up through Columbia and then into the 60-mile stretch of roadless jungle in Panama called the Darién Gap. Since Panama counts migrants entering that region, their data provides a fairly reliable indicator of the numbers soon to reach our border. The British newspaper The Guardian reports that Panamanian government data shows about 400 Chinese citizens passed through the Gap during the first half of 2022. After Fiscal Year 2023 began in October, the numbers began to rise. In November, there were 377; in December, 695 illegal Chinese were recorded. In January, 913 Chinese nationals crossed the Darién Gap, a record.
Chinese nationals come to the United States for a variety of reasons, most of them economic. For all that country’s success in international commerce, per capita income in China still lags far behind that of the U.S. Otherwise, apart from the hope of financial gain, why do they come? Some bring illicit drugs like Fentanyl, most of which originates in China. Some are ordinary criminals and/or gang members: Chinese gangs like the Ghost Shadows, Flying Dragons, Tung On, White Tigers, and the Fuk Ching are active on both American coasts. And many are spies. In 2020, the FBI released a report titled “The China Threat,” in which director Wray identified the “counterintelligence and economic espionage threat from China” as the most important danger facing Americans. (Some, of course, might add that that that’s with the possible exception of Wray’s own agency.)
Meanwhile, over on the libertarian “right,” Reason magazine this month offered its own solution to the Chinese menace, a solution that is surprising even from clueless libertarians. A Reason article advised that we should “lower the drawbridge” and admit all Chinese who want to come! That will solve everything.
And libertarians wonder why they never get anywhere.