WASHINGTON – US Customs and Border Protection is easing its screening process for Chinese asylum seekers amid a record rise in such cases — but experts and lawmakers warn the move risks letting national security threats slip through the internet.
CBP reduced the number of questions its processors had 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 is necessary to speed up the processing of GST applications, it raises the prospect of inadvertent granting of asylum to bad actors from the nation’s archenemies.
“The change in procedure appears to reflect the reality that the number of Chinese immigrants is outpacing the US immigration control system… [and] 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 individuals slipping through the cracks,” Heath warns.
Migrants from China surrender to Customs and Border Protection officers 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 eliminating the question was “unacceptable” — and posed a threat to national security.
“The American people do not want America’s greatest enemy 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 several requests for comment from The Post last week.
Scrambling to compete
Between January and November 2023, the number of Chinese immigrants encountered by Border Patrol officers more than doubled compared to the same time period the previous year – from 25,397 to 59,642. Data for December 2023 is not yet available.
As the rate of migration increases, so does the workload of CBP personnel tasked with processing asylum applications.
Migrants wait to be processed at a facility in Brownsville, Texas on May 4, 2023. James Keivom
The questions that were cut to save time ranged from asking about previous arrests to how someone got to the US, including whether any smuggling fees were paid to people smugglers, according to documents published by the Daily Caller.
Still, the five questions that remain appear to be tailored to raise concerns about potential threats related to the Chinese Communist Party, according to an April email reported by the outlet.
“There is no need for 100% in-depth Chinese language interviews or phone downloads,” the message said. “The recruitment of Chinese by any processor is asked basic questions including … military service, place of birth, occupation … [and] political parties.”
While previous Chinese military service and affiliation with the CCP are obvious red flags, other questions are also tied to identifying the threat.
Processors are asked to inform 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 instructs processors to also be alert if an immigrant lists their birthplace as Xinjiang, where Beijing has forced millions of Uyghurs, a minority Muslim ethnic group, into inhumane detention camps in recent years.
Chinese asylum seekers whose answers raised alarms were referred to the agency’s Tactical Terrorism Response Team “for in-depth interviews” — but those who did not move through the application process, according to the email.
“If they do not inform the above, there is no need to delay any more [the] current processing path,” the message said.
It is not clear whether or to what extent the reduced questioning has affected the workload of CBP processors that are stuck — as the number of Chinese migrant crossings increased by nearly 54% in the months following the change.
There is no end
On average, CBP officials detected about 3,578 Chinese immigrants entering the US illegally each month before the policy change. After the new policy took effect in May, that average rose to about 5,434 per month over the next eight months.
The timing of policy changes and migration booms are likely more correlated than causative, national security experts explain.
US Customs and Border Protection officials with asylum seekers from China in California. NewsNation
This rise is due to a number of other factors – not the least of which is the desire to escape China’s slowing economy and oppressive dictatorial government.
It is for these reasons that Heath warned that the flow of Chinese asylum seekers is unlikely to stop anytime soon – which could create further problems as the path to repatriating the migrants is strained by Beijing’s refusal to cooperate with the US.
“As the economic and political situation in China deteriorates, the number of Chinese people seeking asylum may increase,” he said. “Furthermore, China has proven uncooperative in deporting illegal immigrants apprehended in the United States.”
Of all the contributing factors, experts say the CCP’s repressive tactics — from a crackdown on pro-democracy efforts in Hong Kong to the inhumane treatment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang — are among the main reasons Chinese citizens are fleeing to American freedom.
Asylum seekers from Ecuador and China at a camp in Jacumba Hot Springs, California on November 30, 2023. Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images
So strong is the desire that more than half of Chinese migrants last year took the extreme step of crossing the southern border through a more traditional gateway more suited to travel from Asia.
Many middle-class Chinese families without funds for the legal route have opted for the brutal, grueling route of some 13,000 miles circulated on social media last year.
Dubbed “Zouxian” – Chinese for “running the route” – the trip involved the first flight to Ecuador, which does not require a visa for stays of less than 90 days, according to a TikTok video on the subject.
The migrants then make a perilous journey of about 3,000 miles to the US-Mexico border, which involves crossing through the mountains and forests of the Darién Gorge 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 jumped more than tenfold from 2,176 in fiscal year 2022 to about 24,314 in fiscal year 2023, according to the latest CBP data.
With no end in sight to the recent surge, experts say it is unlikely that CBP will return to its previous list of questions anytime soon as processors face an overwhelming workload.
In addition to tightening US immigration policy, lawmakers have options to ease pressure on CBP, including a $106 billion additional 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 the 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 ahead of the expiration of the pandemic-era health policy known as Title 42, which allows CBP agents to quickly turn away immigrants for health-related reasons.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
