Many Americans think of the surge in southern border crossings and the threat from China as two completely different issues. They shouldn’t.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection recently revealed that at least 22,000 Chinese nationals have attempted to cross our southern border unlawfully since Oct. 1. Illegal immigration by the Chinese via the U.S.-Mexico border is soaring because of the Biden administration’s lax policies.
The number of Chinese nationals encountered at our southern border since last October is unprecedented. Data reveals that immigration authorities typically encounter between a few hundred and approximately 2,500 Chinese nationals at our southern border in a fiscal year. The approximately 22,000 witnessed in just over five months is still more than in all four fiscal years under the Trump administration combined.
>>> The Biden Admin’s Clear Vulnerability to Chinese Espionage
President Biden has made it easy for illegal aliens of any nationality to unlawfully enter our country without penalty. Early on in his presidency, he signed executive orders to reverse virtually every Trump administration border security measure.
This includes terminating the “Remain in Mexico” policy—which required illegal aliens to remain in Mexico during their asylum process—halting border wall construction and shielding many classes of illegal aliens from deportation.
This has made it easy for Chinese nationals to enter our country unlawfully and even easier for them to remain here.
Chinese entities are also exploiting the Biden administration’s porous southern border by working with Mexican cartels to transport and sell fentanyl in the United States. Fentanyl, one of the deadliest drugs in the world, primarily enters our country through the southern border. It is the leading cause of death of Americans 18 to 45. Ingesting a crumb of it can cause death in minutes.
China is the principal fentanyl manufacturer on the planet. Its chemical and pharmaceutical companies provide precursor chemicals necessary for fentanyl creation. These chemicals are sold and shipped to Mexican cartels, which then create large batches of the drug in Mexico.
Under the current administration, the Mexican cartels have no problem getting this deadly drug through our southern border. The border wall remains reconstructed, and Border Patrol agents are pulled from the front lines to process illegal aliens at holding facilities. There are not enough border security measures in place to detect and halt these drugs from coming into the country.
Beyond illegal border crossings, China is the “broadest, most active and persistent” cyber espionage threat to the U.S., according to the intelligence community’s 2023 worldwide threats report. China conducts massive espionage campaigns against U.S. infrastructure, defense, government, telecommunications and technology targets. It encourages intellectual property theft through its Military-Civil Fusion policy, and its spy balloons have penetrated U.S. airspace.
The Biden administration must take the threat of illegal Chinese crossings at the southern border more seriously. It must reinstate Trump administration border initiatives that created the most secure border in American history. Continued inaction from the Biden administration will only further jeopardize U.S. national security.
This piece originally appeared in The Washington Times
