During a Senate oversight committee hearing on March 28, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas faced questions about the increase of Chinese nationals crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, with U.S, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) calling on Mayorkas to resign.
Mayorkas testified about such topics as fentanyl smuggling, the southern border and illegal immigration at the hearing, during which Hawley (R-MO) questioned how many more Chinese nationals were crossing the border and whether any of them were members of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), according to video of the testimony on Hawley's YouTube channel.
“Let me ask you about about the the Chinese nationals who we all saw coming over the border, busloads of them, and then being released in the American interior," Hawley asked Mayorkas during his testimony. "What's the percentage increase of Chinese nationals who crossed the border this year, Mr. Secretary? It's 900% just in the Rio Grande Valley sector. Are any of these people who came in this bus, these Chinese nationals, members of the Chinese Communist Party?"
Officials and U.S. Border Patrol have reported an uptick in Chinese nationals crossing the southern border, News Nation reported. So far this fiscal year, 1,667 Chinese nationals have been apprehended at the southern border, with the most coming in the Rio Grande Valley region of Texas.
“Don't you think it's strange that we have busloads of Chinese nationals coming across our southern border?" Hawley asked Mayorkas. "I'm asking you -- from a hostile country -- I'm asking you if they're members of the Chinese Communist Party and you don't know, apparently, or you won't say. You have exhausted the patience of the American people. You should resign."
According to a report by the Migration Policy Institute, about 390,000 Chinese immigrants in the U.S. were unauthorized as of 2019, about 4% of the 11 million unauthorized immigrants in the country. The number of Chinese immigrants peaked in 2019 at about 2.5 million coming to the U.S., before dropping slightly to 2.4 million in 2021. Chinese immigrants make up the third-largest origin group among U.S. immigrants, after those hailing from Mexico and India.
