Chinese migrants are fastest growing group crossing into U.S. from Mexico | 60 Minutes

the number of migrants arriving at the southern border is unprecedented last year US Customs and Border Protection recorded 2 and a half million instances of detaining or Turning Away people attempting to cross into the United States from Mexico so what's the fastest growing group among them Chinese migrants Yes you heard that right Chinese we saw large groups including many from the middle class come through a 4T Gap at the end of a border fence 60 Mi east of San Diego the illegal entryway is a new route for those hoping to live in America the story will continue in a moment just after Sunrise we saw the first group of migrants make their way from Mexico through a gap between the 30ft steel border fence and rocks wo ducking under a bit of razor wire and into the United States we were surprised to see the number of people coming through from China nearly 7,000 M away careful watch our cameras and at one point this armed border patrol agent standing 25 ft away did not deter them so how old are you I'm 20 years old this man a college graduate told us he hoped to find work in Los Angeles he said his trip from China took 40 days what countries did you go through uh Thailand Morocco agador aad Columbia Panama Costa Rica uh naraga jeez 30 minutes later a Smuggler's SUV raced along the border fence and dropped another group at the same spot and 30 minutes after that another group over 4 days we witnessed nearly 600 migrants adults and children passed through this hole and on to us soil unchecked we saw people from India Vietnam and Afghanistan many of the Chinese migrants who came through will end up asking for political Asylum did you travel by yourself or with family or friends hey no just me just you yeah the Gap is a global destination littered with travel documents from around the world with the help of a translator we learned a little about the Chinese migrants coming through teaching you're a teacher yeah yeah oh my goodness we also met a banker and small business owners some of the migrants made a grueling journey through Central America with Dusty backpacks but we noticed middleclass migrants from China arriving with rolling bags they told us they took flights all the way to Mexico some flew from China to Ecuador because it doesn't require a Visa for Chinese Nationals then took flights to Tiana Mexico the migrants told us they connected with Smugglers or what they call snakeheads in [Music] Tijana and they each paid them about $400 for the hour-long drive that ended here at the Gap why did you decide to come to United States huh oh it's hard to live there how to find jobs H what did you do did you work in [Applause] China work in the factory but now it's hard to work in the factory was this a trip expensive you said it was and that she sold her house to cover the $14,000 cost of her trip to the US last year US Customs and Border Protection reported 37,000 Chinese citizens were apprehended Crossing illegally from Mexico into the US that's 50 times more than 2 years earlier many of the migrants told us they made the journey to escape China's increasing ly repressive political climate and sluggish economy this 37-year-old woman said China's Co lockdown destroyed her child care business she left her two young children with family at home and why did you decide to come to the United [Applause] [Music] States many reasons for [Music] [Applause] work not not entirely okay what what [Applause] reasons freedom freedom we wondered how all of these migrants knew about this particular entryway into California the answer was in their hands about oh Tik Tok TI oh you learned on Tik Tok yeah Tik Tok talk is a social media platform created in China the post we found had stepbystep instructions for hiring Smugglers and detailed directions to that hole we visited we were struck by just how orderly and routine it all seemed the migrants walked about a half mile down a dirt road and waited in line for US border patrol to arrive so they could surrender how much property do you have here the land they're waiting on is owned by 75-year-old Jerry Schuster a retiree the whole world seems to know there's a way in and it's on your property they're all doing this they all doing this when they come over here they come with the suitcases they come prepare with the computers just like they got off on Norwegian cruise ship yesterday Shuster owns 17 Acres just north of the Border fence and a quarter mile outside of yakuma Hot Springs California population 540 your name is immigrant yourself yes where did you come from I come from Yugoslavia and I left Yugoslavia I went to Austria I stayed there eight month and I knock on this door I didn't bust the door down to come over here you came through the front door I came to the front door and what do you think about this they they don't care they they they they come through the whole like they come into their own country over here and nobody do nothing about it Shuster says it all started in may he went to investigate some smoke coming from his property and found migrant burning trees to stay warm today his property looks like a messy moonscape littered with the trash and tense migrants have left behind have you ever just yelled get out of here well they say uh I uh there was like four month ago there was eight guys start knocking my tree and start burning my my my trees on the other side so I told him please don't do that please don't they start surrounding me I went home and I got my gun and I shoot in the air they arrest me they arrested you yeah they arrest me on your property on my property yeah just because I asked them not to burn the trees not to knock the fences and they they arrest me they put me in a police card and just protected my own land Shuster was in charge but his gun was confiscated if you had to guess how many migrants do you think you've seen come through here maybe 3,000 a week 3,000 a week I would say that yes because this is ongoing deal about 2 hours after these migrants arrived we saw the border patrol pull up broadcasting recorded instructions in Mandarin the migrants were driven into a detention facility near San Diego where they are given background checks some are interviewed typically within 72 hours they are released into the United States and can begin the process of filing an asylum claim Jacqueline Ariano has volunteered on the border for eight years offering humanitarian Aid to migrants so I'm a um Native Spanish speaker I have been able to rely on being bilingual in doing this work for the duration that I have been doing it and in this past year I mean there's been times that I've come to the sites and not spoken to a single Spanish speaker she relies on translation apps to communicate with Chinese migrants these people want to be picked up by border patrol why isn't this happening at a Port of Entry that would definitely be the ideal situation and people would much prefer to do so it would definitely be much safer and more efficient unfortunately there are barriers to people being able to seek Asylum at a Port of Entry one barrier is the phone app called cbp1 Asylum Seekers are supposed to use the app to make an appointment to enter the us through a legal border crossing as we saw last spring in war as Mexico the system is glitchy oh yeah and it gets stuck right opport 9:00 no more volunteers who work with migrants told us there's still a 3 to four month wait to secure an appointment at a border crossing so is this a shortcut it's really like the only one that they have I don't even know that they will consider it a shortcut for years millions of Chinese entered the US with a Visa that allowed them to visit work or study but in the last few years those visas have been increasingly difficult to secure as tensions between the two countries have grown in 2016 the US granted 2.2 million temporary visas to Chinese Nationals in 2022 it was just a 160,000 so a lot of these folks may have come on Tammy Lynn is an immigration attorney and has worked with clients from China for nearly two decades if someone's not granted Asylum here will China then say okay yes we'll take them back I haven't seen that happen really I I think I even back to 2008 a lot of the Chinese Nationals that had failed Asylum cases weren't able to get passports uh to be put on the plane to be sent back so we can't send you back based on our review of data from Immigration and Customs Enforcement there are at least 36,000 Chinese who have been ordered by us courts to leave the country but China is notorious for not taking back its citizens and the US can't force China to accept them so then what happens if they have a failed claim but they can't go back to China that's a very question they're stuck in this limbo according to the Department of Justice last year 55% of Chinese migrants were granted Asylum compared to 14% for every other nationality with the odds in their favor and a phone to guide them there's little to discourage more Chinese migrants from coming through the Gap near Jerry Schuster's Place have you said to anybody hey there's this giant hole they're coming through how about patching that up they know that thing is there and uh we we been telling them me when this thing going to quit over here you got to call Washington DC that's what they say so we did US Customs and Border Protection told us their agents don't have authority to stop people from coming through gaps like this one and can only arrest them after they've entered illegally as for closing that Gap they said it is on their priority list but would require money from Congress what do some migrants do after being released by border patrol they call an Uber and and they're gone at 60 Minutes overtime.com of

Channel: 60 Minutes

Views: 5,662,215

Keywords: 60 Minutes, CBS News, immigration, migrants, southern border, china, mexico

Id: M7TNP2OTY2g

Length: 13min 15sec (795 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 05 2024