Arrests of Chinese immigrants illegally crossing US-Mexico border jumps 1,230% in January
Anna Giaritelli
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Border Patrol agents stationed at the U.S.-Mexico border saw an astounding increase in Chinese citizens arrested attempting to enter the country illegally in January compared to a year ago.
In January 2022, federal law enforcement agents apprehended 80 illegal immigrants who were citizens of China. Last month, agents captured 1,064 Chinese immigrants at the southern border — a 1,230% increase year over year.
Half of all Chinese arrests this year, 528, were made in southeastern California’s El Centro region, one of nine sectors designated by the federal government. Historically, Border Patrol in and around El Centro has not made a high number of drug or human smuggling busts compared to other regions, such as the Rio Grande Valley and Del Rio in Texas.
ILLEGAL BORDER CROSSINGS IN JANUARY DROPPED TO LOWEST LEVELS IN NEARLY TWO YEARS
Since the government’s fiscal year began in October 2022, Border Patrol agents across the 2,000-mile southern boundary have arrested 2,926 Chinese citizens compared to 309 in the same four months of the previous year.
El Centro is a remote part of the state where agents have historically seen illegal immigrants from far-off countries trying to get in without getting caught.
In 2021, two Yemeni men on the FBI’s terror watch list were arrested trying to cross the El Centro region.
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In 2018, El Centro became the first part of the southern border to see a Trump-era border wall project completed.
Then-Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen visited the site in October 2018 and announced the completion of a 2.5-mile-long project behind an outlet mall shopping center by the Calexico, California, port of entry across from Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico.
