Despite popular conceptions, the Chinese are increasingly crossing U.S. the border, as Mexicans are returning home. the border is not simply an American and Mexican issue anymore. The world watches us, and our enemies the closest. Are you still up in arms over migrant workers? I hope not, because this whole border issue has become the expressway for aggressive infiltration by foreign interest. Foreign interest such as the laundry list of Chinese intelligence actions from within the U.S. over the past decade. As well as the often buried due to lack of interest reports on cyber espionage from India.

As Mexico has historically been the number one source of immigrants to the U.S., yet a recent slump of immigrants to the U.S. from Mexico has been overshadowed by a sharp increase in the new immigrant arrivals from China and India. A recent Princeton study based on U.S. Census Bureau data places China over Mexico as the new leader for new immigrants. Although under gravitating terms, as data slowly makes its way to the public, Mexico remains in the top spot of total number of immigrants, for the moment. As a number of trends including limited employment opportunities for Mexican immigrants, stricter enforcement of immigration laws, and increased deportation of illegal Mexican immigrants, has contributed to an increasing decline in Mexican immigrants, according to Pew Research Center Hispanic Trends.

Immigrants approach from the south, but they geographically come from everywhere; the Chinese, Indians and even the Russians. That is until the moment they cross the often invisible line in the desert and they are then referred to as exotic migrants. Exotic because they are not native to the North or South American continents. The globe has been converging on us as if the Olympics are being hosted exclusively as a 24/7 event with a sharp contrast in the demographics of people who cross into the U.S., the days of simply blaming the Mexican have passed.

Meanwhile, illegal immigration by Mexican nationals’ has decreased 18% and illegal immigration from Central and South America has decreased 68%. In fact, illegal immigration has been wholly on the downslope. Many factors are considered for this shift such as culture, economics, and legislation.

Mexico also accepts its deported citizens, while China does not. A Reuters report places, “a backlog of nearly 39,000 people Chinese nationals awaiting deportation for violating U.S. immigration laws, 900 of them classed as violent offenders, according to immigration officials.” This number only represents the Chinese not give special asylum or refugee status, which is the most common end result for illegal Chinese migrants.

Only those Chinese illegal immigrants with a checkered past are not granted asylum or refugee status. In fact, the expectations for assured asylum or refugee status is so assured that the majority of the illegal migrant from exotic locations will seek out Customs and Border Protection agents along the border to expedite their process.

Despite this, and clearly every asylum and refugee seeking individual are not in collusion with foreign intelligence agencies and military forces. In fact, the majority are not. We consider such things to help us admit to ourselves that we are facing a shift in the nationalities who are migrating to the U.S. and what the motivation for this shift is. There is a real unique threat on the rise while many Americans are focused on outdated facts, as unregulated and growing, undocumented populations that we know little about spike.

The time to accept that decades of conventional and pious understanding and approaches to the border has been unsuccessful. In lieu of outdated practices, the need to formulate and deploy a forward-thinking strategy as to how to mitigate and know these risks is in demand.

Featured Image – in The Rio Granda Valley, Border Patrol officials have placed “rescue beacons” that provide instructions for distressed trespassers in three languages: English, Spanish, and Chinese. Image courtesy of National Review.