Chinese migrants deported in first major flight from US since 2018

A group of migrants were deported to China over the weekend aboard the first major charter flight since 2018, the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement Tuesday.

The ministry said it was working with authorities in Beijing on other deportation flights, and while it declined to say how many migrants were on board the weekend flight, the Associated Press reported that 116 were on the plane.

Tuesday’s announcement comes amid tougher messaging from the White House on immigration ahead of the November presidential election. President Joe Biden temporarily suspended some forms of entry across the U.S. southern border last month.

DHS said it has conducted 120 international repatriation flights since the suspension.

“We will continue to enforce our immigration laws and remove people who do not have a legal basis to remain in the United States. People should not believe the lies of smugglers,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in the statement.

Beijing’s acceptance of the return of its citizens marks a sharp shift in policy, even though it had been in the works for several months.

In April, Mayorkas told NBC News that despite China’s long resistance to repatriating migrants, the United States was in high-level discussions with its leaders about increasing the number of Chinese nationals expelled from the United States. “We’re in a holding pattern, but we’re working with our counterparts,” he said at the time. “It’s a process.”

Last week’s flight and the possibility of further expulsions follow a shift and explosion in illegal immigration at the southern border. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, nine out of 10 illegal migrants entering from the south came from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador – the four countries closest to the border – but over the past year, the majority of those crossing have come from elsewhere in the world.

Between 2019 and 2023, more than 50 nationalities saw their arrests increase by a hundredfold or more. The increase in migration flows was also dramatic in major economies during the same period. The number of migrants from China and India increased elevenfold and fivefold, respectively.

The increase in travel from these countries has been driven by transcontinental smuggling networks. Although these operations have existed for decades, they have grown significantly in size and scope in recent years.

Chinese smugglers are known as “snakeheads,” and like their international counterparts, they have taken advantage of the rise of the internet and the proliferation of cheap smartphones to expand their business. The smugglers advertise extensively on TikTok, WhatsApp, and the Chinese social media platform WeChat, or any other platform popular in the country they target.

In May of this year, NBC News gained access to the WeChat profile of a Chinese hacker who claimed to have smuggled more than 100 people into the United States in the previous year. He regularly posts videos of migrants on the trail, in an attempt to attract new clients.

As part of its war on smugglers, the Department of Homeland Security also used its statement to welcome Ecuador’s recent announcement that it will soon require visas for Chinese passport holders visiting the country. The country is a prime location for smugglers.