A Chinese national confirmed to be an illegal immigrant was arrested last week after sneaking onto a military base in California and ignoring orders to leave, according to an official from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
CBP’s El Centro Sector Chief Patrol Agent Gregory Bovino said in a March 29 post on social media platform X that agents were called out to a Marine Corps base about a Chinese national who entered the facility without authorization and failed to respond to orders to leave.
“Subject was confirmed to be in the country illegally,” Mr. Bovino wrote, adding that his purpose in entering the base remains under investigation.
Requests from The Epoch Times to CBP and to the U.S. Marine Corps for more details on the incident were not immediately returned.
However, a U.S. Marine Corps’ Training and Education Command spokesperson told Fox News that the Chinese national tried to enter the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, California.
The spokesperson said that the individual was asked to leave by security personnel, but he proceeded onto the installation anyway and was subsequently arrested by military police.
The facility, also known as Twentynine Palms, is the largest U.S. Marine Corps base in the country.
The latest breach comes amid numerous instances of Chinese nationals infiltrating U.S. military bases over the past several years.
For instance, two Chinese nationals were arrested for illegally entering and taking photos at a U.S. Navy base in Florida in 2020, while a recent report by The Wall Street Journal estimates that there have been over 100 similar incidents over the past few years.
The head of the Border Patrol union recently warned about a sharp rise in the number of military-aged Chinese men crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally, which dovetails with CBP data.
Rise In Chinese Military-Aged Men Crossing US-Mexico Border
Amid an illegal immigration crisis of historic proportions, there’s been an exceptionally high increase in the number of Chinese nationals—in particular military-aged men—who have unlawfully crossed the U.S.-Mexico border.
CBP data shows that, starting in February 2023, the number of single Chinese adults encountered by Border Patrol agents nationwide started to rise, and doubled by April compared to historical monthly norms.
In February 2024, Border Patrol agents encountered 5,455 single Chinese adults who had entered the country illegally, more than twice the number of any other February on record.
China is designated a “country of particular concern” by the U.S. State Department, while the FBI says that economic espionage and counterintelligence efforts emanating from China’s communist regime are a “grave threat” to America’s economic security.
Some analysts have said that deteriorating economic conditions in China, along with human rights abuses and policies such as strict COVID-19 lockdowns, are likely driving the increase.
However, some border patrol officials have warned that the doubling of Chinese illegal immigrants entering the United States poses a national security risk because, among those simply seeking a better life, there may be those with links to the Chinese military.
Brandon Judd, the head of the Border Patrol union, recently warned about a sharp rise in the number of military-aged Chinese men crossing the southern border illegally, saying he believes some of them may be spies.
“At best, they’re here for a better life,” Mr. Judd said in a mid-February interview on “Just the News, No Noise” TV program. “At worst, they’re here to be part of the Chinese government to infiltrate our own country.”
Jason Owens, the chief of the U.S. Border Patrol (USBP), revealed at the end of February that, so far this fiscal year, the San Diego sector had seen over 20,000 apprehensions of Chinese nationals, over five times the number in the comparable period last year.
‘China’s Shock Troops’
At the beginning of the current fiscal year, Chinese people were the fourth-highest nationality crossing the Darién Gap between Colombia and Panama and heading north toward the United States, after Venezuelans, Ecuadorians, and Haitians, according to The Associated Press.
Gordon Chang, a senior fellow at the Gatestone Institute and author of “The Coming Collapse of China,” wrote in a recent op-ed in The Epoch Times that, of the Chinese migrants making the dangerous trek north from points in Central and South America, “almost all are desperate, seeking a better life for themselves and their children.”
“Some, however, are coming to commit acts of sabotage,” he argued.
Mr. Chang explained that many Chinese nationals fly to Ecuador, which allows them to enter visa-free. Then, they travel to the southern edge of the Darién Gap, a 66-mile stretch of jungle that separates Colombia and Panama, typically crossing on foot. Once they get to the north side, they continue their journey to the United States, often by bus, according to the China expert.
“Some migrants are almost certainly members of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA),” Mr. Chang wrote.
“These military-linked migrants, despite their affiliations, have been released into America,” he argued, hinting at yet another negative consequence of the Biden administration’s catch-and-release program, under which asylum-seekers are released into U.S. communities to await asylum hearings.
It’s estimated that more than 10 million illegal immigrants have crossed the border since President Joe Biden took office.
Republicans have blamed President Biden’s policies for fueling the border crisis while calling for measures such as ending the Biden administration’s contentious “catch-and-release” policy, expanding expedited removals, renewing border wall construction, and reinstating the Trump-era “Remain in Mexico” policy.
From The Epoch Times