{"id":249,"date":"2024-10-01T23:19:03","date_gmt":"2024-10-02T03:19:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/jrn449-f24\/?p=249"},"modified":"2024-10-01T23:21:14","modified_gmt":"2024-10-02T03:21:14","slug":"us-deports-first-large-flight-of-116-chinese-migrants-since-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/jrn449-f24\/2024\/10\/01\/us-deports-first-large-flight-of-116-chinese-migrants-since-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"US Deports First Large Flight of 116 Chinese Migrants Since 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON \u2014 The US sent back 116 Chinese migrants in the \u201cfirst large charter flight since 2018\u201d to China this July, according to a statement<\/a> from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).<\/p>\n

In recent years, the U.S. has struggled with an uptick in unauthorized immigrant entries. Between 2020 and 2022, illegal entries increased by 630,000<\/a>. DHS announced continued cooperation with China \u201cto reduce and deter irregular migration and to disrupt illicit human smuggling through expanded law enforcement efforts,\u201d eliciting concerns about the safety of migrants.<\/p>\n

An influx of Chinese nationals has entered through the U.S.-Mexico Southwest Border in recent years. US Border officials arrested 37,000 undocumented Chinese migrants in 2023, 10 times the number of the previous year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will continue to enforce our immigration laws and remove individuals without a legal basis to remain in the United States,\u201d Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas in the DHS statement said. \u201cPeople should not believe the lies of smugglers.\u201d<\/p>\n

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not respond to requests for comment from the Associated Press about the collaboration between Beijing and Washington or the number of Chinese citizens awaiting deportation.<\/p>\n

China suspended taking back undocumented Chinese nationals in August 2022, pausing cooperation on repatriation following then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi\u2019s visit to Taiwan in 2022. To deport undocumented Chinese nationals, the US must get approval from the Chinese government.<\/p>\n

Since then, cooperation on the deportation of illegal Chinese immigrants in the US has resumed in November 2023<\/a> after President Joe Biden\u2019s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping that reviewed \u201cpeople-to-people exchanges\u201d amongst other issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cI suspect that China may wrongly believe that in \u2018cleaning up\u2019 these illegal migrants and violations of other countries immigration law, that will increase their soft power amongst Western countries and Southeast Asia,\u201d sociologist of Chinese migration Jacob Thomas said.<\/p>\n

This statement follows international efforts to block main migrant routes connecting China to Western countries. In August, Panama\u2019s government deported over 100 people, including Chinese migrants, to reduce the flow of US-bound migration passing through the Dari\u00e9n Gap.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a balancing act,\u201d Thomas said. \u201cPoliticians in the US historically played between being concerned about human rights and having too many people. The Biden administration wanted to send a clear message: they\u2019re not going to stop people ahead of time, but legally the goal is to prevent migrants from reaching the US.\u201d<\/p>\n

Panama President Jos\u00e9 Ra\u00fal Mulino had vowed to shut down the Dari\u00e9n Gap, entering a deal with the US stating it would cover the costs of repatriation for illegal migrants entering Panama.<\/p>\n

Large deportation flights and border arrests have exacerbated tensions over immigration during the presidential election. Amidst an amplified a sense of nationalism across the US population, deportation flights echo the growing national sentiment around hardening control of the US border.<\/p>\n

\u201cA trend in immigration policy is that it\u2019s very geopolitical. The presidential election is a moment of nationalism that lends itself to an \u2018us versus them\u2019 idea and nativism,\u201d Beth Lew-Williams, a professor of history specializing in Chinese immigration law at Princeton University, said.<\/p>\n

Anti-immigrant stances have become a uniting front for the Republican party. Notably, Chinese migrants have been targeted for espionage and intellectual property theft under policies like Former President Donald Trump\u2019s China Initiative. Trump\u2019s anti-Chinese rhetoric, such as labeling COVID-19 the \u201cChinese Virus\u201d in a tweet has perpetuated anti-Asian racism.<\/p>\n

Asian community organizations have expressed concern over the safety of Chinese residents in light of larger deportation numbers and the call for firmer border control.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince COVID, it is very much on our radar how hate crimes have been rising, even still today against Asian American communities.\u201d Sophia Wan, a neighborhood planning associate at Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation. \u201cWe see that deportation is an example of that xenophobic and sinophobic sentiment on a national level.\u201d<\/p>\n

The growing xenophobia toward Chinese migrants coupled with issues of gentrification and affordability may impact the desirability of immigrating and the physical safety staying in predominantly Asian neighborhoods like Chinatown, according to Wan.<\/p>\n

There are nearly 350,000 <\/a>undocumented Chinese immigrants and around 1.7 million from Asia and the Pacific Islands in the US as of 2022.<\/p>\n

\u201cChinese migrants, numerically, are not the main story of deportation in the US right now. It’s surprising and noteworthy, in part, because we assume a certain amount of deportation and exclusion at the Southern Border of mostly Central Americans,\u201d Lew-Williams said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON \u2014 The US sent back 116 Chinese migrants in the \u201cfirst large charter flight since 2018\u201d to China this July, according to a statement from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). In recent years, the U.S. has struggled with an uptick in unauthorized immigrant entries. Between 2020 and 2022, illegal entries increased by 630,000.<\/p>\n

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