China is likely using the chaotic conditions on the southern border to insert military personnel into the U.S., the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee charged on Wednesday.
Rep. Mark Green, Tennessee Republican, said among the large number of Chinese migrants who have rushed the border since President Biden took office are people with “known ties to the PLA” — the People’s Liberation Army.
He said he was told of the tactic by a Border Patrol sector chief, and he said he expects a classified briefing on the subject soon.
“We have no idea who these people are, and it’s very likely, using Russia’s template of sending military personnel into Ukraine, China is doing the same into the United States,” Mr. Green said.
He raised the possibility in a press conference called to announce the start of an investigation into embattled Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Some Republicans expect that probe to end in impeachment proceedings against Mr. Mayorkas.
The number of Chinese immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally has exploded this year. Border Patrol agents caught nearly 8,000 of them since Jan. 1. That includes 3,195 in April alone, which is a 20-fold increase over last April, when agents caught just 146 of the immigrants.
Many Chinese migrants have trickled in through the border in California, usually smuggled in through official border crossings while concealed inside vehicles.
But they’re now coming in far greater numbers across between the official crossings. They’re hitting the southern tip of Texas particularly hard. The Border Patrol in the Rio Grande Valley sector detained 2,600 of them in April, the vast majority coming in as single adults.
Chinese border crosses can pay tens of thousands of dollars to make the trip, with some reportedly paying as much as $80,000. Once here, the immigrants from China are particularly tricky for the immigration system to handle.
Even if authorities attempt to deport them, China is notorious for refusing to cooperate in taking back its citizens.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported just 127 people to China in 2022. That’s compared to 28,000 total undocumented immigrants encountered at the land border and sea and airports.
The situation is so bad that in late 2020 the Trump administration slapped sanctions on Beijing over the issue, restricting the issuance of some legal visas as retaliation for the country’s recalcitrance.
The sanctions were exceptionally limited, however.
The State Department says it blocks basic visitor visas for some high-ranking officials in China’s National Supervisory Commission, its Ministry of State Security and its Ministry of Public Security, along with their spouses and children under age 21. The sanctions also block a wider range of visas, including foreign exchange and student visas, for top officials at the National Immigration Administration.
“Under Section 243(d) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), the Secretary of State must order consular officers in a foreign country to discontinue granting certain visas to nationals of that country when notified by the Secretary of Homeland Security that the government of that country “continues to deny or unreasonably delay the acceptance of its citizens or nationals,” thereby triggering restrictions on visa issuance under section 243(d) of the INA,” the State Department said in a statement to The Washington Times.
China has sharply protested U.S. sanctions on its economy and top officials. Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu last month refused a Pentagon request for a face-to-face meeting with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, citing personal sanctions imposed on Mr. Li in 2018 by the Trump administration over his role in obtaining Russian arms to fuel Beijing’s military expansion.
“If the United States says it wants to communicate while suppressing and containing China by any means and imposing sanctions on Chinese officials, institutions and enterprises, what is the sincerity and meaning of such communication?” Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told reporters at a briefing in Beijing late last month.
The State Department confirmed Wednesday that Mr. Blinken will leave Friday for a fence-mending trip to China. The trip was originally set for February, but it was scrubbed after the Chinese surveillance balloon traveled over the continental U.S.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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