Loading ...The ‘walking route’: How an underground industry is helping migrants flee China for the US
These arrivals are part of a staggering new trend. In the first 11 months of 2023, more than 31,000 Chinese citizens were picked up by law enforcement crossing illegally into the US from Mexico, government data shows – compared with an average of roughly 1,500 per year over the preceding decade.
Many who left point to a struggle to survive.
Three years of Covid-19 lockdowns and restrictions left people across China out of work – and disillusioned with the ruling Communist Party’s increasingly tight grip on all aspects of life under Xi. Now, hope that business would fully rebound once restrictions ended a year ago has vanished, with China’s once envious economic growth stuttering.
Others nod to restrictions on personal life in China, where Xi has overseen a sweeping crackdown on free speech, civil society and religion in the country of 1.4 billion.
I’ve been told by a former Chinese national, who has now lived in the US for 30 years, well educated and with high level business contacts, that neither she nor her Chinese-American acquaintances would ever consider returning to China under the current regime.
Its entirely reasonable to discount that they are ALL part of sleeper cells. That may still leave a few however.