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.

 

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Image courtesy of U.S. Census Bureau.

 

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.