Number of Chinese migrants at US-Mexico border drops to lowest count of the year

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The number of Chinese migrants trying to cross the US southern border illegally has fallen to its lowest monthly count this year, three months after US President Joe Biden imposed significant restrictions on the processing of asylum claims.

According to the US Customs and Border Protection, authorities detained or found inadmissible 1,326 Chinese migrants along the border in September, a 40 per cent decline from the 2,198 recorded in June. The number of Chinese migrants attempting to enter the US without proper documentation had reached a three-year peak of 5,980 in December.

In June, Biden signed an executive order that prevents migrants from seeking asylum along the US-Mexico border once the seven-day average for daily illegal crossings reaches 2,500. The border would reopen only after the figure falls to 1,500 for seven consecutive days and remains that way for two weeks.

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Overall migrant encounters with authorities have dropped since. “Encounters” refer to either when individuals seek admission at ports of entry but are found to be inadmissible, or when individuals are found between ports of entry and are detained.

In September, authorities encountered a total of 101,790 migrants, largely from Latin America, at the southern border – the lowest monthly figure recorded this year. Since the beginning of the year, there were over 1.3 million such encounters.

The Biden administration has faced increasing pressure to handle the influx of migrants crossing illegally into the US in an election year where immigration is a key issue.

The Department of Homeland Security said it had operated nearly 400 repatriation flights from June to August to more than 140 countries, including China.

Last week, the DHS said that a large repatriation flight had departed for China, the second since July, with 131 Chinese nationals aboard.

Washington had long accused Beijing of being uncooperative in repatriating its nationals, but recent signs point to increased coordination. The DHS said the two flights were arranged in collaboration with China’s National Immigration Administration.

In recent years, Chinese had been the fastest growing group to cross illegally into the US from the southern border. Since China began lifting its strict zero-Covid controls in December 2022, loosening travel restrictions, US authorities encountered more than 56,000 Chinese nationals along the US-Mexico border.

From January to September this year, there were over 23,000 encounters with Chinese nationals. But monthly figures have been gradually decreasing since May.

Chinese nationals seeking to come to the US face barriers elsewhere as well. In July, Ecuador suspended its visa-free programme for Chinese travellers. Before that policy change, many Chinese migrants had flown to Ecuador before making the trek up Latin America to the US-Mexico border.

In August, in a bid to stem US-bound migration, Panama’s government announced flights for several countries including China.

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has claimed that China is sending an “army” of “fighting-age” migrants and has threatened to impose tariffs on countries that do not accept deported migrants.

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