Shocking new border statistics reveal the surprising countries migrants are flocking to the US from
Shocking new border statistics have revealed the surprising countries producing an influx of migrants into the US.
While Chinese migrants continue to dominate the list, thousands are also pouring in from India, Vietnam, Turkey, Uzebakistan and the West African country of Mauritania.
About 62% of all Chinese migrants arriving at U.S. borders enter the country through San Diego, according to U.S. Border Patrol statistics.
At least 48,501 Chinese migrants entered the U.S. illegally from Oct. 1 through April — most of whom surrendered to Border Patrol agents in hopes of seeking asylum.
Chinese migrants await processing after crossing the border into Mexico on Wednesday, May 8, 2024, near Jacumba Hot Springs, California. San Diego became the busiest corridor for illegal crossings in April, according to U.S. government data
“It’s an increase of 8,600% over the entire fiscal year 2021, when only 342 Chinese nationals illegally crossed the entire southern border,” said Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin tweeted.
Of those, 27,135 entered the country either in San Diego or in the area east of the city, all of which Border Patrol considers the San Diego sector.
At least 118 Chinese citizens entered the region illegally on Saturday alone, Fox News reported.
While most of the border draws the most migrants from countries like Mexico and Venezuela, the area near San Diego attracts migrants from around the world.
More than 8,900 migrants from India have arrived there since the start of the financial year.
Another 7,800 from Turkey, 5,600 from more than 5,600 Guinea and 4,400 from Mauritania have also entered the country there.
“There is now an orchestrated, well-organized cartel smuggling operation of Chinese into Southern California,” Melugin said.
As DailyMail.com first reported, Chinese migrants are being smuggled into the US with the help of Chinese gangs known as “snake heads” who operate in sync with Mexican cartels.
Asian criminal organizations have been active in drug trafficking and money laundering in Mexico for many years, but have recently turned to human trafficking as Chinese migrants appear at the border, cartel expert Robert Almonte told DailyMail.com.
“The Chinese (smugglers) just can’t go there and shut out the Mexican cartels – that just doesn’t happen. They have to pay the Mexican cartel a certain percentage, quota or tax,” he said.
Global arrivals in Southern California have helped make San Diego’s industry the busiest in the country.
At least 37,370 migrants have entered the U.S. through the San Diego sector, which includes all of Southern California except El Centro at the Arizona state border, according to U.S. Border Patrol.
A Chinese migrant camp near Jacumba, California, has signs directing Chinese asylum seekers where they can surrender themselves to U.S. Border Patrol agents
In April, the San Diego region surpassed Tucson, which had been the busiest in the country, and fell to second place with 31,219 border encounters.
The El Paso sector, which includes the West Texas city and all of New Mexico, rose to third place with 30,393.
San Diego’s emergence as a border hotspot was expected, as the area has been bombarded with as many as 6,000 to 8,000 border crossings per week in recent months.
“Unfortunately, I’m not surprised,” San Diego County Commissioner Jim Desmond told DailyMail.com last month.
“Texas is getting stricter and other areas are getting stricter. Here in California they are allowed to enter unhindered. They’re going to follow the path of least resistance, and the least resistance is in California.”
A $13 billion enterprise smuggling people from Mexico into the US has been described by border experts as hellish, with one area flaring up while another calms down.
Migrants arrested in the San Diego sector, vetted by U.S. Border Patrol, are released onto the streets.
The county’s migrant shelter closed a few months ago after local leaders decided they didn’t want to spend the $18 million a year to keep it running.
However, Biden has promised the province $20 million to open a shelter in the coming weeks.
“It was costing us about $1.5 million a month at that time to essentially be their travel agent. Border Patrol was their Uber, taking them to the drop areas, and then we were their travel agent,” Desmond joked.
Without the local shelter, migrants are released by the FBI at a transit station or at the airport.
Migrants have been known to crash at the airport for up to five days while waiting for a flight out of town, Desmond added.
Like other border communities across the country, San Diego’s airport is not adding additional flights simply because there is a spike in the number of migrants crossing.
Often there are no seats available to fly out or migrants with limited resources wait a day or two until ticket prices drop and they can afford to travel to their final destination.