WASHINGTON – U.S. Customs and Border Protection watered down the screening process for Chinese asylum seekers amid a record surge in such cases, but experts and lawmakers warn the move risks letting threats to national security from escaping the network.
CBP dramatically reduced the number of questions its processors were required to ask from about 40 to just five following an increase in monthly border crossings by Chinese nationals in the first quarter of 2023, according to an April 30 email published by the Daily Caller this week.
Experts told The Post that while the change was necessary to speed CBP’s processing of applications, it increases the possibility of accidentally granting asylum to bad actors from the nation’s main adversary.
“The procedural change appears to reflect the reality that the volume of Chinese immigrants is overwhelming the United States immigration enforcement system… [and] “It should speed up the processing of applicants,” said Timothy Heath, senior international defense researcher at the RAND Corporation think tank.
“However, any simplification risks increasing the risk of unwanted people falling through the cracks,” Heath warned.
Migrants from China surrender to Customs and Border Protection agents after crossing the border in Yuma, Arizona, on June 4, 2023. James Keivom
The House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party told The Post on Thursday that removing the questions was “unacceptable” and posed a threat to national security.
“Americans do not want America’s primary adversary to facilitate the flow of fentanyl into our country or send thousands of people across our border illegally,” the subcommittee said in a statement. “President Biden needs to secure the border now.”
CBP declined multiple requests for comment from The Post last week.
Struggling to keep up
Between January and November 2023, the number of Chinese immigrants encountered by Border Patrol agents more than doubled compared to the same period a year earlier: from 25,397 to 59,642. Data for December 2023 is not yet available.
As migration rates skyrocketed, the workload of CBP staff charged with processing asylum claims also increased.
Migrants waiting to be processed at a facility in Brownsville, Texas, on May 4, 2023. James Keivom
The questions trimmed to save time ranged from questions about previous arrests to how someone got to the U.S., including whether any smuggling fees were paid to human smugglers, according to documents published by the Daily Caller.
Still, the five remaining questions appear designed to raise alarms about possible threats related to the Chinese Communist Party, according to the April email reported by the outlet.
“There is no requirement for in-depth interviews or 100% Chinese phone downloads,” the message said. “The Chinese are asked basic questions by any processor that include… military service, place of birth, employment… [and] politic party.”
While prior Chinese military service and CCP membership are obvious red flags, the other questions are also related to threat identification.
Processors are asked to alert if a migrant reports attending certain schools associated with security risks or working in the science, technology, medicine, finance or government sectors, according to the email.
CBP ordered processors to also alert if a migrant indicates their birthplace is Xinjiang, where Beijing has forced millions of Uyghurs, a Muslim minority ethnic group, into inhumane internment camps in recent years.
Chinese asylum seekers whose answers raise alarm are referred to the agency’s Tactical Terrorism Response Team “for an in-depth interview,” but those who do not move forward in the application process, according to the email.
“If they do not warn about the above, there is no need to delay further [the] current processing pathway,” the message said.
It is unclear if or how much the reduction in interrogations has affected the workload of stalled CBP processors, as the number of Chinese immigrant crossings soared nearly 54% in the months following the change.
No end in sight
On average, CBP agents detected about 3,578 Chinese immigrants entering the United States illegally per month before the policy change. After the new policy went into effect in May, that average increased to about 5,434 per month for the next eight months.
The timing of the policy change and the migration boom is likely more correlation than causation, national security experts explained.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers with asylum-seeking immigrants from China in California. NewsNation
The rise can best be attributed to a number of other factors, including the desire to escape China’s slowing economy and oppressive dictatorial government.
It is for those reasons that Heath warned that the flow of Chinese asylum seekers is unlikely to stop any time soon, which could lead to further problems as avenues for deporting those migrants become limited by a lack of will. from Beijing to work with the United States.
“As the economic and political situation in China deteriorates, the volume of Chinese seeking asylum could well grow,” he said. “In addition, China has been uncooperative in repatriating illegal immigrants captured in the United States.”
Of all the contributing factors, experts say the CCP’s repressive tactics – from the brutal crackdown on pro-democracy efforts in Hong Kong to the inhumane treatment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang – are among the main reasons why Chinese citizens flee to the freedoms of the United States.
Asylum-seeking migrants from Ecuador and China at a camp in Jacumba Hot Springs, California, on November 30, 2023. Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images
That desire is so strong that more than half of Chinese immigrants last year took extreme measures to cross the southern border at more traditional entry points better suited for travel from Asia.
Many middle-class Chinese families without funds for legal avenues have opted for a brutal and grueling route of approximately 13,000 miles that circulated on social media last year.
Nicknamed “Zouxian” (Chinese means “travel the route”), the trip involves first flying to Ecuador, which does not require a visa for stays of less than 90 days, according to TikTok videos on the subject.
Migrants then make the dangerous journey of approximately 3,000 miles to the US-Mexico border, which involves crossing the mountains and jungle of the Darien Gap that connects Central and South America.
After information about the route spread widely on Chinese social media, the number of Chinese migrants at the southwest border increased more than tenfold, from 2,176 in fiscal year 2022 to approximately 24,314 in fiscal year 2023, according to the latest data from CBP.
With no end in sight to the recent surge, experts said CBP is unlikely to return to its previous list of questions anytime soon as processors face overwhelming workloads.
In addition to tightening U.S. immigration policies, lawmakers have options to ease pressure on CBP, including a $106 billion supplemental funding bill before Congress for Ukraine, Israel and the southern border, which includes funding for 300 additional processing coordinators for the agency.
The Pentagon could also order another deployment of the National Guard to help process paperwork as it did last year.
In early May, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin sent 1,500 troops to the border for a 90-day deployment before the pandemic-era health policy known as Title 42, which allowed U.S. CBP quickly rejects migrants for health-related reasons. .
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Source: vtt.edu.vn