On November 16, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) sent a significant number of Chinese migrants, who were living in the United States without proper documentation, back to their home country.
Newsweek has learned that the chartered removal flight a total of 109 Chinese nationals.
In the past six months, this marks the third significant chartered removal flight to China. In June, over 100 migrants were returned, followed by the deportation of 131 Chinese nationals in October.
According to a statement issued by Homeland Security officials, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is actively enforcing U.S. immigration laws and imposing severe consequences for individuals who enter the country unlawfully or without authorization.
“This flight to remove individuals is another demonstration of the Department’s continued collaboration with the People’s Republic of China and other global partners to address and discourage irregular migration by enforcing immigration laws,” states the release.
Newsweek reached out to DHS for comment via email.
In June, a significant deportation flight took place, marking the first major charter flight for deportations since 2018. Coordinated with China’s National Immigration Administration, the flight transported 116 Chinese nationals who had been living in the U.S. illegally. This event was the first notable deportation flight of the year.
After President Joe Biden issued a proclamation to temporarily suspend the entry of undocumented migrants across the southern border, this development took place.
Following the June 4 proclamation, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has reported a significant decrease of over 52 percent in Border Patrol encounters.
In the past year, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has taken action to deport undocumented individuals from various countries including Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Egypt, Mauritania, Senegal, Uzbekistan, India, and China.
According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the number of undocumented migrants who were removed or returned in the Fiscal Year 2024 exceeded any year since Fiscal Year 2010.
In 2022, China became the third-largest source of immigrants to the U.S., with approximately 90,000 Chinese nationals entering the country, according to the Pew Research Center. This places China behind Mexico and India in terms of the number of immigrants coming to the United States.
Concerns are being raised by human rights groups regarding the dangers that vulnerable ethnic groups, like the Uyghurs, are facing.
According to Carolyn Nash, Asia Advocacy Director at Amnesty International USA, the resumption of deportation flights between the U.S. and China is a cause for concern. She highlighted that Customs and Border Protection (CBP) does not track ethnicity, making it impossible to determine whether Hongkongers, Uyghurs, or other vulnerable minorities are being returned to China.
According to Amnesty International, more Chinese individuals are now arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border in search of asylum. However, they face a language barrier as the CBP One app, which is used by Customs and Border Control to gather information from noncitizens without proper documents at land points of entry, does not offer Chinese languages. As a result, Chinese nationals are “forced” to enter the country illegally.
According to the organization, the current border policies require individuals to wait for months to schedule an appointment in the CBP One mobile application in order to seek safety. However, this app is only accessible in English, Spanish, and Haitian Creole, leaving Chinese nationals who do not speak any of these languages completely unable to use it. As a result, they are left with no choice but to cross into the U.S. irregularly, putting themselves at an extremely high risk of danger by crossing deserts or border walls.
This story has been updated on November 19, 2024, at 10:32 a.m. ET to include information about the number of Chinese nationals who were reportedly removed on the flight on November 16.
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