The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently announced that it had deported more than 100 illegal Chinese immigrants by plane back to their home countries.
The Department of Homeland Security said in a press statement on Tuesday that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) “operated a removal flight” carrying Chinese nationals over the weekend. According to the Associated Press, the flight was carrying 116 Chinese migrants.
The Department of Homeland Security said the flight was the first large charter flight since 2018. A statement from the department did not provide details about the migrants but cited efforts to “reduce and prevent illegal immigration and combat illegal human trafficking.”
“The Department of Homeland Security continues to work with China’s Ministry of Public Security and the National Immigration Administration to arrange for additional relocation flights,” the department said.
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The US Department of Homeland Security recently deported more than 100 migrants to China. (Getty Images)
Encounters with Chinese migrants at the U.S. southern border have skyrocketed in recent years. Border Patrol apprehended more than 37,000 Chinese migrants in 2023, and encounters with Chinese nationals have increased by more than 6,000% since 2021.
The press release also promised “tough consequences” for illegal immigration and cited steps Biden has taken to curb illegal immigration amid sharp criticism of the president over his border policies.
DHS also said the flight was conducted under the direction of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. [People’s Republic of China] on areas of mutual interest.”
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U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas (center) and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Dianne Criswell (right) after an operations briefing at the DC Emergency Operations Center in Washington, DC, USA, Tuesday, July 2, 2024. (Bonnie Cash/UPI/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“The Department of Homeland Security regularly consults with counterparts throughout the Western Hemisphere and around the world to accommodate the deportation of nationals who have no legal basis to be in the United States, and takes other steps to reduce illegal migration, promote safe, lawful and orderly pathways, and hold accountable transnational criminal networks that abuse legitimate trade and travel systems and smuggle and exploit vulnerable people,” the statement read.
“The United States therefore welcomes Ecuador’s recent announcement that it will require visas for Chinese passport holders, given that smugglers are seeking to exploit the route.”
Mayorkas added that Americans “should not believe the lies of smugglers.”
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A large group of Chinese migrants, including three from Bangladesh, cross the U.S.-Mexico border overnight in Jacumba Hot Springs, California, and stand in line with Customs and Border Protection agents on June 6, 2024. (Frederick J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images)
“We will continue to enforce our immigration laws and remove individuals who have no lawful basis to be in the United States,” he said.
The Associated Press and Adam Shaw of Fox News Digital contributed to this report.
