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CHINESE MIGRANTS ARE ENTERING THE UNITED STATES IN RECORD NUMBERS, PART OF A
HISTORIC GLOBAL SURGE ACROSS THE MEXICO BORDER

SCROLL TO CONTINUE



(Li Qiang for The Washington Post)


THEY ARE STARTING NEW LIVES AND SEEKING ASYLUM THROUGH A BROKEN U.S. SYSTEM


WALKING
THE LINE

CHINESE MIGRATION SURGE TESTS PRESIDENT BIDEN AND CHINESE PRESIDENT XI JINPING

(Li Qiang for The Washington Post)
(Li Qiang for The Washington Post)
(Li Qiang for The Washington Post)
(Li Qiang for The Washington Post)
(Li Qiang for The Washington Post)
By Cate Cadell

, Nick Miroff

and Li Qiang

July 29, 2024 at 11:00 a.m.

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LOS ANGELES

Lei Muhan and her parents crossed 11 nations along the journey from China to the
United States, riding on the backs of motorcycles, paying off smugglers and
trekking through a scorching desert.

The small California bedroom that now houses the family seemed a little dull by
comparison. Muhan, 10, passed the time flipping through a spiral notebook, eager
to start school. “I Am Happy” she had written over and over in English.

Her father, Lei Xiaoyue, made rice for breakfast. If Muhan could enroll in
school that morning, he could look for work.


4.1 MILLION MIGRANTS

The Washington Post analyzed more than 4.1 million U.S. immigration court
records from the past decade to find out where migrants come from and where they
live once they arrive in the country.

PreviousNext

The family arrived in the United States in April, joining the largest wave of
illegal border crossings by Chinese immigrants in history — part of a wider
influx that is also bringing record numbers of migrants from South America,
India, Turkey and an array of African nations. Many are guided by global
smuggling networks that seek to exploit the dysfunctional U.S. asylum system.

U.S. authorities have encountered more than 55,000 Chinese migrants crossing
illegally from Mexico during the past 18 months, primarily in the rugged desert
mountains east of San Diego — up from 3,813 in 2022. It is the last stage of the
journey known in Chinese as zouxian — “walking the line.”

Driven in part by the stifling economic and political fallout of China’s
extended covid-19 lockdowns, the Chinese arrivals have become a political and
national security flash point in Washington. Leading Republicans, including
former president Donald Trump, refer to the migrants as “fighting-age men,” and
warn the influx could mask espionage activities, while Democrats, analysts and
the migrants themselves point to China’s unemployment crisis and repressive
government.

(Erin Patrick O'Connor/The Washington Post)



U.S. authorities worry about an even larger wave, given China’s population of
1.4 billion people and the difficulty of carrying out deportations. Officials
say they detain any Chinese migrants who pose a public safety or national
security threat, and the Biden administration is urging other western hemisphere
nations to tighten controls.

The Washington Post spoke to almost three dozen recent Chinese migrants who had
crossed the southern border, including families and lone travelers. They had
settled in California, New York and elsewhere across the United States. They
describe daily challenges divorced from geopolitics: consternation over their
children’s future, struggles to find work in a saturated job market and fears of
being scammed as they build new lives in America.

Many have arrived to the Flushing area of Queens, which has surpassed Los
Angeles to become the top destination for the most recent Chinese migrants,
according to a Post analysis of U.S. immigration court data. The neighborhood’s
large Chinese-speaking community is a draw for new arrivals seeking jobs,
housing and help with asylum claims.

Beijing denies its economy has influenced the migrants to go abroad, saying they
are lured by human smugglers. Chinese President Xi Jinping and other Chinese
authorities have appeared more and more determined to suppress the exodus,
embarrassed by those willing to risk their lives and spend their savings to
flee.

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“Zouxian” information online is frequently censored. State-aired documentaries
say migrants face mortal danger. Chinese customs officials screen the social
media accounts of would-be travelers, migrants and human rights advocates say,
refusing to let some depart regardless of whether their documents are in order.

“Even if you have a valid Chinese passport and a valid visa to Turkey or to
Thailand or to Vietnam, you are not allowed to go abroad” said New York-based
immigration lawyer Xiang Xiaoji.



China’s embassy in Washington said it has launched efforts to track down and
repatriate those leaving China illegally.

President Biden and Xi discussed immigration enforcement during a meeting in San
Francisco last year, forging a new area of tentative cooperation at a time of
otherwise deteriorating relations. The first U.S. deportation flight, in March,
carried eight Chinese migrants; a second in June had 116 deportees.

Illegal entries — including by Chinese migrants — have dropped sharply since
June 4, when Biden blocked access to the U.S. asylum system for most
border-crossers. That change in policy is being challenged in federal court.

But amid a record numbers of crossings at the southern border over the last
three years, China has been the largest source of illegal migration from any
nation outside the Americas, according to Department of Homeland Security
statistics.

Border Patrol agents line up migrants who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border near
Jacumba Hot Springs, Calif., on April 15. The migrants are directed to a pickup
area along the highway that functions as an outdoor arrival hall. ( Li Qiang for
The Washington Post)
Pamela, 21, lifts a blanket to cover her 1-year-old son Oliver to block the sun.
The family from Ecuador just crossed the U.S.-Mexico border early that morning.
( Li Qiang for The Washington Post)

Border Patrol agents line up migrants who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border near
Jacumba Hot Springs, Calif., on April 15. The migrants are directed to a pickup
area along the highway that functions as an outdoor arrival hall. A mother from
Ecuador lifts a blanket to cover her 1-year-old son from the sun. The family
crossed the border early that morning.

The influx has been a boon to criminal organizations in Mexico, which charge
thousands of dollars to ferry customers from safe houses in Tijuana and Mexicali
to remote crossings where migrants can skirt the U.S. border wall. Once on
American soil, the Chinese migrants join others from around the world who
surrender to U.S. agents and express a fear of persecution in their home
nations, a first step in seeking asylum.

Those entering in the mountains outside San Diego are referred for interviews
with Border Patrol agents trained to screen Chinese migrants for possible
Communist Party and military ties. Their personal and passport information is
matched to data collected by nations that share such details with the United
States.



But Department of Homeland Security officials say additional information is
rarely available, because cooperation with China is so limited.

Rep. Mark Green (R-Tenn.), the chairman of the House Homeland Security
Committee, said the screening process is inadequate given the potential threat
of a coordinated operation by the Chinese government to infiltrate the United
States with spies and operatives.

“Their agendas, their ideologies, and the reasons for coming here could
substantially be missed,” said Green, who embraces his party’s hard line on the
border and believes new arrivals from China should be detained longer and more
thoroughly screened.

Migrants from China and other nations wait for Border Patrol vans to transport
them from a makeshift camp to a San Diego detention center. (Li Qiang for The
Washington Post)

The vans prioritize families with children, leaving some adults to wait for
hours and keep warm with bonfires. (Li Qiang for The Washington Post)

Migrants from China and other nations wait for Border Patrol vans to transport
them from a makeshift camp to a San Diego detention center. The vans prioritize
families with children, leaving some adults to wait for hours and keep warm with
bonfires.

Mae Ngai, a Columbia University historian who has studied Chinese immigration to
the United States, said the references by Republicans to “fighting-age men” are
part of what she described as new forms of “China-mongering.”

“I think there’s this fascination with Chinese immigration, especially when it’s
undocumented, that is disproportionate to its actual occurrence,” Ngai said.
“And that has a very long history that’s associated with Chinese being seen as a
special threat to the United States.”

Chinese migrants are dropped off by U.S. authorities at a transit center in San
Diego in April. After calling relatives and friends, they depart for different
states, with many headed first to Los Angeles. (Li Qiang for The Washington
Post)


Chinese migrants are dropped off by U.S. authorities at a transit center in San
Diego in April. After calling relatives and friends, they depart for different
states, with many headed first to Los Angeles.

Republican lawmakers say the concerns are more than justified. They point to
media reports of at least 100 incidents in recent years in which Chinese
nationals were caught or suspected of trying to gain access or information about
U.S. military installations.

U.S. immigration court data show about two-thirds of the migrants who have
arrived from China during the past year are male, up from about 50 percent
during previous years. Many of the men interviewed by The Post said they left
their families behind because of warnings on social media about the dangers of
the journey.

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Migrants described fleeing stifling government control and economic malaise.
Most recalled the strict covid-19 lockdowns as a turning point, with many losing
their income and finding themselves in conflict with the country’s security
apparatus.

When Lei Xiaoyue and his wife Ye Qinqiong decided to bring Muhan to the United
States, they knew it would be the most perilous thing they ever did.

They guarded their plans tightly, including from relatives. Muhan was told only
that they would be “traveling.”

Lei prepared to never see his family in China again.

He bought a coffin and stashed it in his father’s house, worried he wouldn’t be
able to return home to bury him.

“I wanted to be able to take care of my dad’s affairs after I’m out,” he said.

Lei Xiaoyue and his daughter Lei Muhan (left) explore Los Angeles days after
crossing into the country in April. (Li Qiang for The Washington Post)
Lei Xiaoyue and his daughter Lei Muhan (left) explore Los Angeles days after
crossing into the country in April. Lei Xiaoyue stands on a bus after offering
his seat to an elderly woman while en route to the U.S. Citizenship and
Immigration Services office in Los Angeles. The Lei family finds a moment to
rest while walking in Los Angeles.
Xiaoyue stands on a bus after offering his seat to an elderly woman while en
route to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office in Los Angeles.
(Li Qiang for The Washington Post)

Muhan, 10, and her parents visit the temple called Xilai Temple near their home,
praying for good luck in Los Angeles. (Li Qiang for The Washington Post)




To be eligible for asylum, migrants have to show they faced religious, ethnic or
political persecution in their homeland. Coming to the United States for better
jobs and opportunities is not enough.

Yet those who reach U.S. soil can live and work in the country for years before
getting a hearing in the backlogged immigration courts. If their asylum
petitions are rejected, there is a lengthy appeal process. Migrants are
typically eligible for U.S. work authorization after six months — a policy
designed to help migrants support themselves financially while awaiting a court
decision.

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Lei and Ye said their motivation for coming to the United States was both
economic and political. For years, the family endured what they described as a
slow suffocation: Lei worked up to 16 hours a day as a taxi driver in Fujian
province, 850 miles from their hometown; Ye, who moved there with him, sold
clothes at a mall.

Like hundreds of millions across China, they were confined to their small
neighborhoods or apartment complexes for long stretches during the pandemic. Lei
said his family went hungry on the government-provided vegetable rations: “There
just wasn’t enough to eat in a day.”

LOS ANGELES, Calif. - April 21: The Lei family tries hamburgers at an In-N-Out
restaurant near their new home in Hacienda Heights, Los Angeles on April 21,
2024. Lei Muhan, 10, who had seen videos of “American-style hamburgers” on
Chinese TikTok, said she enjoyed her first meal out. (Photo by Li Qiang for The
Washington Post) (Li Qiang for The Washington Post)
LOS ANGELES, Calif. - April 19: Lei Muhan, 10, waits at a Chinese-speaking law
office where her parents sought help applying for U.S. work permits in Monterey
Park, Los Angeles on April 19, 2024. (Photo by Li Qiang for The Washington Post)
(Li Qiang for The Washington Post)

The Lei family tries hamburgers at an In-N-Out restaurant near their new home in
Hacienda Heights. Muhan, who had seen videos of “American-style hamburgers” on
Chinese TikTok, said she enjoyed her first meal out. She waits at a
Chinese-speaking law office where her parents sought help applying for U.S. work
permits in Monterey Park.

The couple left their daughter behind with relatives, seeing her only during the
Lunar New Year holiday.

But as lockdowns swept China — hurting the economy and generating a groundswell
of public dissent — Lei and Ye brought their daughter to live with them, worried
that otherwise they would never see her.

They grappled with how to educate her, because rural transplants to more
prosperous areas are not allowed to enroll in public school. Then Muhan became
sick.

After three days, her spiking fever drove Lei to sneak out of his home to find
food and medicine. He said that’s when he was arrested and charged with
obstructing the control of disease prevention — a violation for which Lei said
he served a 15-day detention.

“The biggest thing that disgusted me is that my daughter was sick and had to go
to the hospital during the pandemic, but we were not allowed to go,” he said.
“The three years of the pandemic were so miserable for our family. I wanted to
commit suicide, but thinking about [Muhan], I couldn’t do it.”

Instead he hatched a plan to walk the line.

Lei combs his wife's and daughter's hair before bed at a hotel in Monterey Park.
In China he worked as a hairdresser, and said he wants to find similar work in
the United States. (Li Qiang for The Washington Post)
The Lei family’s legs remain swollen and scabbed from insect bites, after a
two-month journey crossing 11 countries to reach the United States. (Li Qiang
for The Washington Post)
Lei and Ye prepare dinner in an outdoor tent kitchen at the hotel. (Li Qiang for
The Washington Post)

The Lei family gets ready for bed at a hotel in Monterey Park. Their legs remain
swollen and scabbed from insect bites after a two-month journey crossing 11
countries to reach the United States. Lei and Ye prepare dinner in an outdoor
tent kitchen at the hotel.

Analysts say TikTok and other social media, and the availability of smuggling
networks, have contributed to a shift in the demographics of those coming to the
United States from China. Before, most relied on education, capital and
connections. Now, people without those advantages can use VPNs to circumvent
government censorship and learn how to make the trip.

Some recent arrivals in California showed The Post examples of PDF guides with
step-by-step instructions for the trek from Ecuador to the U.S.-Mexico border,
including the amount and color of Mexican pesos required for each bus trip.

“Remember it’s very dangerous to sit in the front of the (smuggler’s) boat, and
people get thrown out a lot,” reads one guide on how to make a water crossing
between Colombia to Panama to avoid border controls.

Other Chinese migrants fly to Nicaragua, El Salvador or directly to Mexico,
where they can get connecting flights to Mexican border cities.

The journey remains perilous. In March the bodies of eight Chinese migrants —
seven of them women — washed ashore after their boat capsized off the coast of
Mexico’s Oaxaca state, a popular migrant route.

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Authorities in Ecuador this month temporarily reimposed visa restrictions on
Chinese travelers, hoping to keep migrants from using the South American nation
as a springboard to the United States. Within days, however, Chinese-language
videos on TikTok offered alternative, higher-priced routes with links to “travel
agencies” that work with smuggling operations.

Those interviewed in California said they paid between $8,000 to $60,000 per
person for the entire trip from China.

‘Lucky to be alive’: Risking everything to flee China
3:56

Lei Xiaoyue and his family fled economic turmoil in April and came to the United
States as part of a historic wave of migration from China. (Erin Patrick
O'Connor/The Washington Post)

Smuggling groups take migrants to safe houses on the Mexican side, then pack a
dozen or more into vehicles including windowless cargo vans for shuttle trips to
drop-off points along the U.S. border. The groups then follow the dirt paths and
jeep roads that lead to U.S. agents at a border crossing near Jacumba Hot
Springs, Calif., a lunar landscape of odd-shaped boulders and cactuses called
the Valley of the Moon.

That is where the Lei family entered the United States.

At the site one morning this spring, dozens of arrivals from around the world
shivered in the wind and huddled near campfires that reeked of burning plastic.

About two dozen Chinese men stood apart, sharing stories of their months-long
trek in the hands of smugglers. They showed off bug bites, bruises and — in one
case — a swollen ankle with a bright red scar from a fall off a motorbike.

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There were families from Colombia, young Kurdish professionals from Turkey and
scattered Ecuadorians and Peruvians — a reminder that migrants from Latin
American countries still outnumber those coming from China. A man who said he
was part of a Chinese church group in San Diego arrived with a car battery and a
web of power strips so migrants could charge their phones.

They waited for Border Patrol vans to take them to a San Diego tent facility for
booking. If agents encounter “red flags,” such as links to the People’s
Liberation Army or universities that feed into China’s military and intelligence
agencies, migrants can be sent to a detention facility for more thorough
screening and interviews.

“The info is only as good as the info in the database, and there is limited to
nothing on many of these Chinese nationals,” said Chris Clem, who was chief of
the Border Patrol’s Yuma Sector until retiring in December 2022.

Lei and his family shop for a used vehicle at a lot catering to Chinese-speaking
customers. (Li Qiang for The Washington Post)
Lei Xiaoyue and his family shop for a used vehicle at a lot catering to
Chinese-speaking customers in El Monte, Los Angeles. Lei Xiaoyue browses a
beauty supply store in Monterey Park, Los Angeles. He plans to find a job as a
hairdresser. Lei Muhan, 10, tries on clothing at a Ross Dress for Less in Los
Angeles. Her family arrived with only a backpack after their two-month journey
to the U.S.-Mexico border.
Lei browses a beauty supply store in Monterey Park. (Li Qiang for The Washington
Post)

Muhan tries on clothing at a Ross Dress for Less in Los Angeles. Her family
arrived with only a backpack. (Li Qiang for The Washington Post)




Like many of the newly arrived migrants, the Lei family’s first days in America
were a blur of living moment-to-moment. On their first day out of CBP detention
— still dressed in gray and white U. S. government-issued clothes — the trio
made their way in the Los Angeles area to Ding Pangzi Plaza in Monterey Park,
where an aging strip mall has become a popular landing point.

Listings for dorm-style beds at $15 a night — including access to rice and
cooking oil — cover the shop windows and power poles. Migrants who have been in
the United States for months hunt for new jobs, lawyers, or help getting a
driver’s license.

Ding Pangzi Plaza has also become a hotspot for scammers looking to take
advantage of new arrivals, as the Lei family learned early on.

A landlord who rented them a place to sleep promised to let Lei drive under the
landlord’s Uber driver account to make some money. Lei completed $900 in trips,
but the landlord refused to pay him, and would not return their rental deposit
when the family left.

The Lei family moved around different hotels and spent a long day shopping for
clothes and a used car. (Li Qiang for The Washington Post)
The family naps while being driven to a used car dealership. (Li Qiang for The
Washington Post)
Muhan cooks for the first time in her new home in Los Angeles that they pay
$1,400 monthly and share with more than 10 tenants. With the address, the Leis
could enroll their daughter in school. (Li Qiang for The Washington Post)

The Lei family moved around different hotels and spent a long day shopping for
clothes and a used car. The family naps while riding to a used car dealership.
Father and daughter cook for the first time in her new home in Los Angeles. They
pay $1,400 monthly for a bedroom and share the house with more than 10 tenants.
The address allowed the Leis to enroll their daughter in school.

Another man, posing as a lawyer, promised to handle their asylum case for
$2,000. They later discovered he was a fraud.

“They do these types of things to all the newcomers,” Lei said.

Perhaps the worst, the family said, was when Ye replied to a job posting she saw
at the plaza.

It called for women with child-care experience willing to work about an hour
outside the city. She arrived to find not babysitting work but a cannabis
factory where she was expected to spend long hours in a refrigerated room
clipping marijuana for around $100 a day. Workers got one day off a month. An
agent took a fifth of the pay.

“Five or six women went there,” she said. “Each of us worked for a few days and
left.”

Lei and Ye thought things would get better when Muhan started school, and they
both had time to look for work, but even Muhan’s enrollment — the family’s top
priority — did not go smoothly. The girl arrived for her first day, only to be
turned back because her forms had not been processed.

“She has to go home,” Lei said that day, walking out the school doors with Muhan
in tow. “Maybe tomorrow.”

The Lei family shopping at an Ikea store. (Li Qiang for The Washington Post)
The Lei family shopping at an Ikea store. (Li Qiang for The Washington Post)

The Lei family shopping at an Ikea store after arriving in the United States.

Increases in Chinese immigration to the United States have historically followed
major changes in Chinese and U.S. policy, including the upheaval of the 1989
Tiananmen crackdown and China’s 2001 admission to the World Trade Organization.

The most recent influx is characterized by small business people and factory
workers, said New York-based immigration lawyer Wei Zhu. “There are a lot of
people wondering now what their future will be, so they say ‘Let’s go zouxian.’”

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One draw for Flushing, attorneys say, is that immigration judges in New York
City approve asylum claims at some of the highest rates in the country. And the
neighborhood’s well-established Chinatown provides a soft landing.

Yet the high cost of living and the long backlog in immigration cases mean
crushing financial pressures, which have intensified as the flow of Chinese
migrants creates fierce competition for informal jobs in construction and food
delivery.

Day laborers gather early to look for work in the Flushing neighborhood of
Queens, in May, where many Chinese migrants have settled. (Li Qiang for The
Washington Post)
Day laborers gather early to look for work in the Flushing neighborhood of
Queens, in May, where many Chinese migrants have settled. (Li Qiang for The
Washington Post)

Day laborers gather early to look for work in the Flushing neighborhood of
Queens, where many Chinese migrants have settled.

That’s true for Joey — who came to the United States 18 months ago among the
first wave of zouxian migrants and hopes to bring his two grade-school aged
children as well. He asked to be identified only by his adopted English nickname
out of concern that his asylum case could be affected by speaking candidly.

On a recent morning, he stood on a Flushing street with other Chinese migrants
hoping for day labor, mostly cleanup and renovation jobs. He said the rate for a
day’s work has fallen since he got here, from about $200 to $100 or $150,
prompting some migrants to leave for other U.S. cities or return to China.

“Prices are constantly rising, but your salary is falling,” Joey said.

A van pulled up. Joey surged forward with the other men, but he wasn’t picked.
Of the roughly 60 men on the street that morning, about 10 found work.

(Erin Patrick O'Connor/The Washington Post)



Newly-arrived migrants say they continue to live under the watch of Chinese
authorities, who often visit the relatives they left behind. About a month after
Lei left China, his family frantically got in touch, telling him that the police
had called.

“They said it was illegal and threatened my family. They told me to go back
otherwise I would go to jail,” he said.

Likely part of Beijing’s concern, analysts and lawyers say, is the potential for
politicized Chinese migrants to become part of dissident communities abroad.

“The [Chinese] police told my parents, tell your son not to speak any more or do
any protests,” said Zhou Zheng, a recent migrant living in Los Angeles who
joined groups that protested Xi’s November visit to San Francisco. He’d made the
decision to walk the line after he was detained during protests in China.

(Li Qiang for The Washington Post)
(Li Qiang for The Washington Post)
(Li Qiang for The Washington Post)

The Flushing neighborhood in Queens is a top destination for new Chinese
migrants. Message boards at local businesses advertise jobs, room rentals and
immigration services.

While the number of Chinese migrants is relatively tiny in terms of the
country’s population, its impact is significant for a government that has sought
to advertise its political system abroad.

“It’s never looks good when people are willing to trek through the Darien Gap to
get out of your country,” said Meredith Oyen, associate professor at the
University of Maryland Baltimore County, referring to the dangerous jungle
crossing between Panama and Colombia.

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For many of the migrants trying to get a foothold in the United States, the
daily struggle — not Chinese politics — is the focus.

Days after Lei and Ye’s daughter Muhan was turned away from school in Monterey
Park, she managed to enroll.

(Li Qiang for The Washington Post)
(Li Qiang for The Washington Post)

Muhan practiced writing English phrases in a notebook. Muhan waits outside the
school while her father attempts to register her.

Lei said his daughter made many friends, a stark difference after seeing few
other children during the three-month journey to the U.S. border.

He said he regrets what Muhan saw her parents go through, including their
struggles to find work in the United States.

“My child has suffered so much along the way. I think in her heart, it’s a
perfect lesson,” he said. “She will know how terrible it can be for a person
without education.”

“I just hope she studies hard and fits into this culture,” he said.

The Lei family in the yard of their temporary family hotel in Monterey Park. (Li
Qiang for The Washington Post)

ABOUT THIS STORY

Photography by Li Qiang. Videography by Erin Patrick O’Connor. Graphics by Tim
Meko. Design and development by Hailey Haymond. Data reporting by Steven Rich.
Editing by Efrain Hernandez Jr., Debbi Wilgoren, Natalia Jimenez, Jessica
Koscielniak and Madison Walls. Copy editing by Gaby Morera Di Núbila.

More on immigration and the border

Hand-curated

White House touts drop in border crossings to counter GOP crime focus

July 17, 2024

U.S. will fund deportations from Panama, expanding migrant crackdown

July 3, 2024

4.1 million migrants: Where they’re from, where they live in the U.S.

June 26, 2024

View all 12 stories
Share
229 Comments
Cate CadellCate Cadell is a Washington Post national security reporter covering
the U.S.-China relationship. She previously reported for Reuters News, where she
was a politics correspondent based in Beijing.@catecadell
Nick MiroffNick Miroff covers the Department of Homeland Security for The
Washington Post, with a focus on immigration enforcement and the southern
border. He was a Post foreign correspondent in Latin America from 2010 to 2017,
and has been a staff writer since 2006.@NickMiroff


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