Chinese immigrants are the fastest growing group entering the U.S. at the southern border from Mexico.

The number of migrants arriving at the southern border unprecedented. Last year, U.S. Customs and Border Protection recorded 2.5 million instances in which it detained or turned away people attempting to enter the United States from Mexico.

So which group is the fastest growing among them? Chinese immigrants. Yes, that’s right…it’s Chinese. We witnessed a large group of middle-class people coming through a 4-foot gap at the edge of the border fence 60 miles east of San Diego.

This illegal entry provides a new route for people wanting to live in America.

Shortly after sunrise, we saw the first group of migrants heading out of Mexico… through a gap between a 30-foot-tall steel border fence and rocks.

I entered the United States by crawling under razor wire.

We were surprised to see so many people coming from China, nearly 7,000 miles away.

Our cameras, and at one point, this armed Border Patrol agent who was standing 20 feet away…. didn’t deter them.

This man had graduated from college and told me he wanted to find a job in Los Angeles. The trip from China took him 40 days, he said.

Sharyn Alfonsi: Which countries have you visited?

University graduates: Thailand, Morocco, Ecuador…Ecuador, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica…Nicaragua.

Sharyn Alfonsi: Wow.

Thirty minutes later, the smugglers’ SUV sped along the border fence and fell. another A group gathered in the same place. And 30 minutes later… Another group.

In four days, we saw nearly 600 migrants, including adults. And the children- It goes through this hole to reach the continental United States…unchecked. I also saw people from India, Vietnam, and Afghanistan. Many of the Chinese immigrants who arrive will eventually seek political asylum.

Sharyn Alfonsi: Did you travel alone or with family or friends?

Immigrant Number 2: Uh, no, it’s just me.

Sharin Alfonsi: It’s just you.

Immigrant Number 2: Yeah.

The Gap is a global destination, littered with travel documents from all over the world.

With the help of an interpreter, we learned a little about the incoming Chinese immigrants.

I also met with bankers and small business owners.

Some immigrants made the grueling journey through Central America carrying dusty backpacks…but now middle-class immigrants from China are arriving with rolling bags. I noticed. They said they took a plane all the way to Mexico.

Some people flew from China to Ecuador because Chinese nationals do not need visas. After that, I took a plane to Tijuana, Mexico.

The migrants said they were connected to smugglers, known as Snakeheads, in Tijuana.

And they paid about $400 each for the hour-long drive that ended here…at the Gap…

Sharyn Alfonsi: Why did you decide to come to the United States?

Female Immigrant/English-Speaking Translator: Oh, it’s hard to live there… It’s hard to find a job.

Sharyn Alfonsi: What did you do? Did you work in China?

Female immigrant/English-speaking translator: She used to work in a factory, but now it’s difficult to work in a factory.

Sharyn Alfonsi: Was this trip expensive?

Female Immigrant/English-Speaking Interpreter: Yes.

She said it was…and sold her house to cover the $14,000 cost of her trip to the United States.

Last year, U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported apprehending 37,000 Chinese nationals who entered the U.S. illegally from Mexico — 50 times more than two years earlier.

Many of the migrants said they made the journey to escape China’s increasingly repressive political climate and struggling economy.

The 37-year-old said her childcare business was destroyed by China’s coronavirus lockdown. She left her two young children with her family at her home.

Sharyn Alfonsi: So why did you decide to come to America?

37-year-old female immigrant/English-speaking translator: There are many reasons.

Sharyn Alfonsi: Work?

37-year-old female immigrant/English-speaking translator: Not really…not completely.

Sharyn Alfonsi: Okay. What–what is the reason?

37 year old female immigrant/English speaking translator: Freedom.

Sharin Alfonsi: Freedom.

We wondered how these immigrants knew about this particular entry point into California.

The answer was in their hands.

Translator: TikTok, TikTok.

Sharin Alfonsi: Yeah, I learned that from TikTok.

TikTok is a social media platform created in China. The post we found had step-by-step instructions for hiring a smuggler and detailed directions to the hole we visited.

We were shocked at how orderly and routine everything was. The migrants walked about half a mile along a dirt road and waited in line for U.S. Border Patrol agents to arrive so they could surrender.

The land they’re waiting on is owned by Jerry Shuster, a 75-year-old retiree.

Sharyn Alfonsi: It seems like the whole world knows there’s a way in. And it’s on your property.

Jerry Shuster: They’re all doing this. They all do this. When they come here, they come with suitcases. They arrive with their computers ready, just as they did yesterday when they landed on a cruise ship in Norway.

Shuster owns 17 acres of land… border fence It is located approximately 400 meters from California’s Jacumba Hot Springs. Population: 540 people.

Sharyn Alfonsi: You are an immigrant yourself.

Jerry Shuster: Yes.

Sharin Alfonsi: Where are you from?

Jerry Shuster: I’m from Yugoslavia. And I left Yugoslavia and went to Austria. I stayed there for 8 months. And I’m knocking on this door. I didn’t break down the door to get here.

Sharyn Alfonsi: You came in through the front door.

Jerry Shuster: I came through the front door.

Sharyn Alfonsi: So what do you think about this?

Jerry Shuster: They — they don’t care. They, they, they, they come through the hole as if they were coming here to their own country. And no one does anything about it.

Shuster said it all started in May. When he went to investigate the smoke coming from his property, he found migrants burning wood to keep warm.

Today, his property resembles a cluttered lunar landscape, littered with trash and tents left behind by immigrants.

Sharyn Alfonsi: Have you ever yelled, “Get out of here!”

Jerry Shuster: Well, they say, well, it was, I think four months ago, eight guys started knocking on my tree and burning my tree on the other side. is. So I said to them, “Please, don’t do that. Please don’t-” and they started surrounding me. I went home, picked up a gun, and shot it into the air. They arrest me.

Sharyn Alfonsi: Did they arrest you?

Jerry Shuster: Yeah, they’re going to arrest me.

Sharyn Alfonsi: On your property?

Jerry Shuster: Yeah, on my property. Yeah, just because. I ask them not to burn trees and not to knock on fences. And they–they arrested me. They put me in a police car. I’m just defending my land.

Shuster was not charged, but the gun was seized.

Sharyn Alfonsi: If you had to take a guess, how many immigrants do you think we’ve seen come through here?

Jerry Shuster: About 3,000 a week.

Sharin Alfonsi: 3,000 a week?

Jerry Shuster: Yes, I think so. Because this is an ongoing transaction.

About two hours after these migrants arrived, Border Patrol agents were seen arriving and broadcasting recorded instructions in Mandarin.

The migrants were taken to a detention facility near San Diego, where background checks were conducted. Some people are being interviewed. Typically, within 72 hours they are released into the United States and can begin processing their asylum claims.

Jacqueline Arellano has been volunteering at the border for eight years, providing humanitarian aid to migrants.

Jacqueline Arellano: So I’m a native Spanish speaker. While doing this job, I relied on being bilingual to do this job. And during his past year, there were several times when I came to the job site and he didn’t speak to a single Spanish-speaking person.

She relies on translation apps to communicate with Chinese immigrants.

Sharyn Alfonsi: These people want the Border Patrol to pick them up. Why doesn’t this happen at the port of entry?

Jacqueline Arellano: That would definitely be an ideal situation. And people are very willing to do that. There is no doubt that it is much safer and more efficient. Unfortunately, there are barriers to people applying for asylum at ports of entry.

One barrier is a phone app called “CBP One.”

Asylum seekers are supposed to use the app to make reservations to cross legal borders into the United States…

As we saw in Juarez, Mexico last spring…There is a problem with the system…

Volunteers working with migrants say it will still take three to four months to secure appointments at border crossings.

Sharin Alfonsi: So is this a shortcut?

Jacqueline Arellano: It really seems like the only thing they have. I don’t even know if they would consider it a shortcut.

Over the years, millions of Chinese people have entered the United States with visas that allow them to visit, work, and study. But in recent years, as tensions between the two countries have increased, securing these visas has become increasingly difficult.

In 2016, the United States issued 2.2 million temporary visas to Chinese nationals. In 2022 there were only 160,000.

Tammy Lin is an immigration attorney who has worked with clients from China for nearly 20 years.

Sharin Alfonsi: If someone is not granted asylum here, will China say, “Okay, yes, we’ll bring them back”?

Tammy Lynn: Actually, I’ve never seen anything like that. I think — even back in 2008 — many Chinese people who failed in their asylum applications were unable to obtain passports and were sent back on planes. Therefore, we cannot send you back.

At least 36,000 Chinese nationals have been ordered deported by U.S. courts, according to our review of data from Immigration and Customs Enforcement. However, China is notorious for not bringing back its citizens, and the United States cannot force China to accept its citizens.

Sharin Alfonsi: So what happens if your application fails and you can’t return to China?

Tammy Lynn: That’s a great question. They’re in this ambiguous situation.

According to the Department of Justice, 55% of Chinese immigrants last year was He was granted asylum. For other nationalities he has 14%;

With favorable prospects and a telephone to guide them, there is little to deter more Chinese immigrants from coming through the cracks near Jerry Shuster’s home.

Sharyn Alfonsi: Have you ever said to someone, “Hey, there’s this huge hole that we’re going through, why don’t we just fix it?”

Jerry Shuster: They know it’s there. And we, we all told them, “Hey, when are you going to stop this thing here? We’ve got to call Washington, D.C.,” and that’s what they say.

So we did that. U.S. Customs and Border Protection told us that the agency does not have the authority to stop people from entering through such openings and can only arrest people if they do so.

They said that’s on their priority list when it comes to closing that gap. However, it would require funding from Congress.

Produced by Guy Campanile. Associate Producer Lucy Hatcher. Broadcaster Erin Ducharme. Edited by Craig Crawford.