Continuing its probing of the threat China poses to America, the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Oversight held a hearing on May 16 regarding the flood of illegal Chinese aliens coming into the US across the southern border. Subcommittee chairman Dan Bishop (R-NC) and ranking member Glenn Ivey (D-MD) sought to identify the reasons for the magnitude of the problem. The influx of illegal Chinese nationals was 8,000% higher in March 2024 than in the same month in 2021.
Illegals From China Invading US
Regardless of the distance and logistical hurdles Chinese illegal interlopers face, more than 24,000 People’s Republic of China (PRC) nationals were caught by the US border patrol in 2024. To shed more light on the problem of the flood of Chinese crossing the border, the subcommittee heard testimony from Mr. Simon Hankinson, senior research fellow in the Border Security and Immigration Center at The Heritage Foundation, Todd Bensman national security fellow, Center for Immigration Studies, Craig Singleton, senior fellow at The Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, and Meredith Oyen, PhD, associate professor, Department of History, University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
The bedrock message from the witnesses was that the US is under invasion by illegal Chinese coming across the southern border unfettered by Biden administration policies. Rep. Mike Ezell (R-MS) made the point as a backdrop to the rest of the hearing:
“Under the president’s watch there have been over eight million illegal aliens released into this country. What is not clearly revealed in the group of eight million illegals is an alarming statistic. The fastest growing group crossing the border illegally is not from Mexico or South America, they’re from China. Since President Biden’s taken office CBP [Customs and Border Patrol] encounters with Chinese nationals has risen over 4200%.”
Answering Congressman Ezell’s question regarding whether this surge of Chinese nationals illegally crossing the US border because of President Biden’s open border policy represented a threat, Mr. Hankinson responded, “Statistically, it’s undeniable. If you have 50,000 additional people and you have no confirmation of their background, their criminal records, their present or past affiliation with their government… It’s almost certain a proportion…are coming here with the intent at some point to do some harm.”
The first committee member from the left, Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-IL), began her questioning on the crucial topic of the Chinese Communist Party’s illegal entry into the US with an ad hominem attack on Tod Bensman, accusing him of being a member of a hate group because he used the concept of an “invasion” of illegal aliens in social media postings. She challenged the committee for inviting Mr. Bensman to testify. In a snide and condescending remark, she explained she would direct her questions to a “real expert,” Dr. Oyen, the only witness whose background is in history and not the current border crisis – the topic of the hearing.
On D-Day, June 6, 1944, the largest armada of armed forces up to that time, 160,000, crossed the English Channel and by August 1944, there were 2 million Allied soldiers in France. That was, by all accounts, an invasion. The Normandy invasion pales in comparison to the over 9.2 million illegal aliens from 160 different countries that have flooded into the US since Biden took office. In March 2024, there were 189,372 illegals caught at the southern border – more than the number of troops landing on the Normandy beaches on D-Day. All things considered, “invasion” seems an accurate and appropriate word to describe the flood of illegals the Biden administration has allowed to cross our sovereign borders.
Gotaways Reach a Staggering Number
However, Chairman Bishop highlighted the more alarming statistic in his opening statement. “Finally, a document [is] emerging verifying that the number of gotaways in total is quite large…I think it was about a million, seven if I remember correctly,” during the Biden administration. “Among them are presumably some number of Chinese nationals,” Bishop concluded. The number of known gotaways at the Southern Border has skyrocketed by 390%.
The CBP is hamstrung by the Biden administration’s border policies to appropriately vet PRC illegals. The Department of Homeland Security, rather than making more stringent the interrogation process for PRC illegals, reduced the number of questions detained Chinese nationals are asked from 40 to five. Basically, who are you, where are you from, and are you a member of a foreign government agency? With no database to validate what the illegal is telling the CBP, it’s just the word of someone who has already broken US laws by being there. As Mr. Bensman explained, the illegal alien could say he was Mickey Mouse and he’d be let into the US.
The Biden administration has opened America to the potential for espionage, terrorist attacks, and all manner of criminal enterprises. We’ve seen illegal Chinese nationals attempt to penetrate US military facilities unlawfully. Americans are becoming very aware of the threat. States are stopping CCP efforts to buy land close to our military installations. The House of Representatives committees on oversight and the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party are working diligently to understand the threats posed by China and the unhindered flood of illegal Chinese nationals crossing our borders. The Biden administration could help by adopting policies that stop the invasion. Chairman Bishop adjourned the meeting early when Democratic members turned the discourse into an attack on Mr. Bensman.
The views expressed are those of the author and not of any other affiliate.
