They arrive at the US-Mexico border weary from the strain of the trek north, carrying bags filled with a few extra changes of clothes, cash, and phones that they weren’t stolen by robbers or cartels along the route.
They are desperate to get away and start again, even though they don’t know what lies on the other side, much like the hundreds of thousands of individuals who have travelled for weeks to get to the US.
However, these refugees are escaping the second-biggest economy in the world, a rising powerhouse.
Numerous Chinese nationals were waiting in several improvised camps outside San Diego, California, which is located just north of the Mexican border, on a recent winter’s day.
They crowded around fireplaces, bundled into sweatshirts and coats, counting the seconds until US border control authorities took them away for processing and, perhaps, the beginning of their lives in America.
These newcomers are a part of an incredible new trend. According to official data, in the first eleven months of 2023, law enforcement apprehended almost 31,000 Chinese individuals who were entering the US illegally via Mexico. This is in contrast to the average of about 1,500 each year over the previous ten years.
Even yet, they remain little in comparison to their neighbours in the region, such as those from Mexico, Venezuela, and Guatemala, and they are not the only ones who immigrated from abroad. But even in the middle of what leader Xi Jinping has called a “national rejuvenation,” the flood of Chinese citizens making that crossing highlights the urgency with which many now feel compelled to abandon their own country.
Many who have departed mention struggling to make ends meet.
People all around China were unemployed as a result of the three years of COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions, and they were also fed up with the ruling Communist Party’s tightening hold on life under Xi. With China’s once-envious economic development slowing, the expectation that business would completely revive once restrictions were removed a year ago has already faded.
Others acknowledge the limits placed on people’s personal lives in China, where President Xi has presided over a massive assault on civil society, free expression, and religion in the 1.4 billion-person nation.
One well-groomed middle-aged guy asked what brought him to this desolate campground hundreds of miles from home, and replied simply, “We are Christians.”
These Chinese citizens join the hordes of international migrants who have flooded the US southwest border in recent months with undocumented crossings. The majority are applying for asylum after crossing; but, given the intense debate over immigration, it is anticipated that Congress will take action to halt the flow in the upcoming weeks.
A CNN examination of the most recent law enforcement statistics on border contacts shows that, for the time being at least, Chinese nationals are expected to be the fastest-increasing group making such crossings.
A network of companies and social media pages catering to Chinese migrants, who sometimes have to take a diversion across continents before starting the difficult, overland trek north, has also expanded along with the number of people fleeing.
Many people start their overland journey in Quito, Ecuador, a metropolis of over 2.5 million people located high in the Andes foothills that serves as a gateway for people fleeing China.
Ecuador recorded the entry of almost 13,000 Chinese nationals in 2022. That figure increased to more than 45,000 in the first eleven months of 2023. Chinese passport holders do not need to have a visa to enter the nation.
According to CNN reporting, a cottage economy of companies serves those who are nearing the border. Services offered to them include airport pickups, reservations at Chinese-run hostels, and planning the trip north, sometimes at a high cost.
If one knows where to look, evidence of the expanding tendency can be found all across Quito.
A ticket salesperson at one bus terminal is holding a placard that reads “the Colombian border” in Chinese and is prepared to show it to prospective passengers. A Chinese translation of the intake form is kept on the desk by the Spanish-speaking nurse of a nearby hospital that offers immunisations, which are advised for a perilous jungle crossing.
Travel agent Long Quanwei, who moved to Quito from China five years ago, told CNN last month that there are an increasing number of enterprises associated with the trend on the outskirts of the city’s core business area.
Convenience and department shops provide supplies and equipment required for the journey north, while Chinese-owned businesses provide lodging, food, and a location to meet other travellers and plan future itineraries, according to Long.
Each stop on the journey is laid out in detail with printed maps and instructions in Chinese that are affixed to a wall at one of these hostels, where a night’s stay with meals costs around $20. The proprietor, who requested anonymity to avoid negative reactions on the internet, believes there are around 100 small companies similar to hers that serve Chinese tourists, including those getting ready to fly north.
“A lot of people come here and search for me because they don’t speak Spanish or English,” she remarked.
Zheng Shiqing was one among those going through; he came in early December after first flying through Spain, Morocco, and Thailand.
A serious-looking, slender 28-year-old, he had previously experienced disappointments.
Zheng was robbed at gunpoint along with a travelling companion on his initial attempt to get via Colombia. His money and phone were gone, and he made his way back to Quito to get his bearings. Nevertheless, he persisted in his belief that the only way to end the cycle he saw in China was to move forward to the US.
“Surviving is incredibly hard for regular folks. Living is really difficult. Zheng was getting ready to leave the hostel for Colombia a second time with borrowed money when he stated, “Don’t even think about making money because you are being exploited by those (upper class) people.”
Zheng, a recent high school graduate from rural Yunnan province whose parents are migrant labourers in China, described how, despite decades of tremendous economic progress that had lifted a sizable portion of the populace out of poverty, life had grown more and more difficult for individuals much like him.
In his late teens, he began working in a factory mixing glue for shoe boxes. Later, he took on several professions, such as working on an assembly line producing parts for Apple smartphones. He was confined to a different workplace producing internet routers throughout the epidemic and was not allowed to leave. Zheng moved to a new position when the lockdown ended, but he claims that there, too, he was never compensated for his work, not even after he made a formal complaint.
“There’s no turning around. Unless your parents are government employees or company owners. However, if you come from a lower social level, you will continue down the same road even when you get married and have kids. Even thinking about it hurts,” he remarked. “I wish I had not been born. Living is very draining.
Zheng made the decision earlier this year to attempt “zou xian,” or travelling on foot, to America, along with thousands of other Chinese people.
Like “global travels,” which is one of the search phrases individuals may use to discover online lessons in Chinese explaining how to prepare, what to do at each leg, and even what to say to border authorities, the phrase has come to be used as a euphemism for the dangerous trek.
Blue-collar workers in urban regions and rural dwellers were severely impacted by China’s COVID-19 regulations, which were just loosening a year ago.
Furthermore, the economy is still struggling as a result of the consequences of a government crackdown on the once-booming private sector, a crisis in the real estate market, huge local government debt, and lost employment.
Following record highs in urban youth unemployment last year, the government completely ceased releasing data for the indicator. The Communist Party committed to doing more to support the economy and suppress negative economic news.
Victor Shih, director of the University of California San Diego’s 21st Century China Centre, said, “It’s striking that so many are making this perilous journey to South America and up to the US when politically the country is very stable,” drawing a comparison to times when emigration from China occurred during times of political unrest.
It implies that a sizeable portion of the populace faces severe financial hardship.
Under the policies of Communist China’s founder Mao Zedong, hundreds of thousands of people fled the mainland for Hong Kong in the middle of the 20th century during the civil war and subsequent political unrest and starvation.
After China’s economy opened up in the early 1980s, a little over ten years after the US lifted its stringent immigration laws, Chinese emigration to the US surged. Then, according to US data, the number of Chinese citizens obtaining permanent residence began to rise sharply. This is a process that is frequently connected to jobs, familial relationships, and political asylum.
The early 2000s saw a shift in the dynamics as China’s economy grew rapidly, providing more opportunities for workers there and giving wealthy Chinese people more means to study or relocate to the US.
However, under Xi, the nation’s most autocratic leader in decades, the country has also witnessed an escalating crackdown on civil society and any kind of opposition throughout the previous ten years.
During that time, China has also tightened its control over religion. Beijing disputes the accusations made by the top human rights body of the UN, which says Beijing has been engaging in grave violations of human rights that may qualify as crimes against humanity.
According to UN statistics, the number of Chinese nationals applying for political asylum in the US and other countries has increased dramatically during Xi’s leadership. It went from around 25,000 in 2013 to over 120,000 in the first half of 2023.
Families as well as single individuals frequently enter the country illegally along the southern border of the United States to obtain asylum, a kind of immigration meant for those fleeing persecution. According to immigration experts, in the past, Chinese nationals seeking asylum may have applied after arriving in the US on a vacation visa or through an alternative process that might not have involved being held at a border.
With the conclusion of the epidemic, more individuals from all over the world are now crossing the southern border, making it a more well-known route.
To remain in the US and seek asylum, those who came illegally through that method usually have to pass a first screening; but, because of a backlog in the system, various migrants may encounter varied situations.
In the upcoming days, analysts predict Congress will take action to amend border immigration regulations, which may modify and limit current regulations.
Even amid acute political tensions between the US and China, the growing number of Chinese people ready to travel the perilous path appears to represent a new and striking trend within the overall increase in such crossings.
Shanghai “opposes and resolutely cracks down on any form of illegal immigration activities, and is willing to actively engage in international cooperation on this matter,” according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry. told CNN in a statement, denouncing the border crossings.
For individuals such as Zheng, the cost of starting the journey is enormous.
Individuals who depend on independently obtaining information and traversing South and Central America will incur a minimum expenditure of $5,000, which is greater than thirty per cent of the typical yearly wage of a Chinese factory worker.
This includes airfares from Asia, which usually pass through nations that accept Chinese passports, such as Turkey, into Ecuador; additional expenses include cash for lodging, buses, taxis, boat rides, and, usually, a guide for traversing the notoriously dense Darien Gap, which connects Colombia and Panama but lacks road access.
However, those who are wealthy can discover methods to stay away from some of the risks. Information on a range of travel alternatives and packages targeted at Chinese travellers was unearthed
Travellers may pay smugglers $9,000 to $12,000 to have transportation for portions of the trip north, as well as a boat and guide for the optional passage of the jungle, all included.
The path becomes simpler for people with more money, at least $20,000; for instance, assistance with obtaining a multiple-entry visa for Japan, which grants admission to Mexico without a visa, and transportation to the border.
The options indicate that the border-bound come from a variety of economic backgrounds, though it’s unclear how many are choosing those well-chosen paths. CNN gathered information on these choices from material found in internet courses, interviews with smugglers and other industry insiders.
Overland travellers from China usually follow a well-trod path from Quito to Tulcan, a tiny city situated on the Colombian border.
There, locals told CNN they witness hundreds, if not thousands, of Chinese migrants travelling each week between Ecuador and Colombia.
Tulcan residents are adjusting to the new group. A business owner who operates a snack shop near the border charges a fee to assist Chinese travellers in setting up an application to get transit visas, which provide them with a 10-day legal stay in Colombia.
She does, however, caution against crossing since, as Zheng discovered the hard way, Chinese migrants are currently top targets for cartels and other criminals.
Midway through December, he travelled through Tulcan once again before heading northeast to the seaside city of Necocli. From there, boats are waiting to transport migrants over the Gulf of Urabá to the edge of the Darien Gap, where they must then make their way on foot.
Pictures from China that Zheng and others provided with CNN illustrate the dangers of that miles-long tract of forest. There, escorted parties usually traverse thick jungle and rocky riverbanks, perhaps scrambling over precipitous, slick sections or grabbing ropes to cross swift-moving or deep river water.
In the last part, they go down a twisting river in wooden boats with orange life jackets to temporary migrant camps in Panama, where they register, eat for free, and relax.
According to a Panamanian source who spoke with CNN, officials in the country have resorted to busing individuals from their southern border camps to their northern ones—throughout the night. If they are not halted by law enforcement or robbers, they go via Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, and finally Mexico.
The last few miles into America are the hardest for some.
In their attempt to cross the border, a 38-year-old woman and her two children, ages 15 and 11, have camped out on the streets of Mexican cities for at least two nights.
Their goal is to join her husband, who travelled to the US a year ago after he was detained and mistreated by Chinese officials for being an outspoken political and churchgoer. For security concerns, she did not want to use her entire name.
From Tapachula, a town near Mexico’s southern border, she told CNN, “Without knowing this path (to America), no matter how hard you’re pushed in life, you would only lie low in another city in China and just get by,” while weighing whether to pay a smuggler or attempt to buy their way forward to get past immigration police.
Zheng had comparable difficulties.
“If I had the determination, I could survive in the rainforest. However, Mexico is a different story,” he said to CNN in late December while still residing in Tapachula and attempting to organise and get funding for his next move.
In addition to the possibility of deportation, there are gangs and thieves here. We are unable to bear those dangers. “I’ll be ruined after one more robbery,” he declared.
“I will have to find a way,” he continued, nonetheless. I’ve made it this far. There’s no going back from here.
The American Dream?
Zheng arrived in Tijuana, which is located just south of the California border, a few days later after scraping together thousands of dollars to pay a smuggler to organise a trip for him.
He was held there for a short while before managing to sneak through a hole in the border wall and make it to America.
He waited there in an unofficial camp in the southernmost hinterlands of the nation, much like other travellers who make that passage. He texted CNN, “I need to find a job and live,” as he struggled to remain warm and considered what would come next before being placed on a government bus and transferred to a detention facility for processing.
This is where a new type of uncertainty begins for Zheng and thousands of others who are crossing at the same time.
After being vetted by immigration officials, those who are permitted to remain may have to wait years before presenting their case before a court in an overburdened system.
They can seek to work lawfully in the interim and relocate within the nation, occasionally doing so while wearing a GPS tracker mandated by the authorities.
Wang Qun, 34, was able to begin his long-desired life in America during that waiting period. CNN covered his quest to cross the border in June 2022.
Wang passed a licence exam last fall, following months of learning English terms for the various tractor-trailer components and their purposes. That has made it possible for him to achieve a dream he had while still in his native nation: becoming an American truck driver.
Wang is currently making a respectable livelihood by hauling heavy loads between Florida and California. Along with this, he is expecting a child with Iris, his girlfriend, whom he met in Los Angeles a few months after she crossed the border from China on her own.
“I think (Iris and I) are important to the United States.” I believe that our presence does not burden the US government since we are hardworking and tax-paying citizens,” he stated. Wang declined to provide CNN with specifics about his asylum application since it is still ongoing.
However, regardless of their history, applicants’ chances of receiving a favourable decision on such instances from the US government are slim, according to immigration specialists.
Chinese nationals have historically made up one of the biggest groups of successful asylum applicants in the United States; according to Department of Homeland Security data, approximately 13% of asylum recipients in 2022 were from China. That came to slightly over 4,500 approvals in that particular year.
The statistics do not accurately represent the influx of asylum seekers in 2022 because wait times might last for years.
Individuals who opt for the challenging route over the southern border may originate from many backgrounds; yet, they perceive their “livelihood and various interests being violated” in China, as stated by Ma Ju, a prominent figure in the Chinese-Muslim community who obtained asylum in the United States in 2019.
He would know; he oversees a shelter in New York City for recently arrived Chinese nationals, most of whom claim to be escaping political or religious persecution. According to him, many must wait more than a year in the US to obtain a work visa, which forces them to take up illegal employment without labour rights while they wait to find out if they are allowed to remain.