US Negotiating With China on Deporting Chinese Nationals: Mayorkas

Customs and Border Protection encountered more than 52,000 Chinese nationals along the U.S. northern and southern borders in fiscal year 2023.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas holds a press conference at a U.S. Border Patrol station in Eagle Pass, Texas, on Jan. 8, 2024. John Moore/Getty Images

U.S. and Chinese officials have engaged in high-level talks concerning the deportation of Chinese nationals, according to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

“We have been working with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to actually receive individuals whom we have determined are not eligible to remain in the United States,” he told NBC News on April 6.

Mr. Mayorkas said he discussed the matter with Chinese Minister of Public Security Wang Xiaohong during a February meeting in Vienna, aiming to gain China’s cooperation for deporting Chinese nationals who have violated U.S. border laws.

“We are in a wait-and-see posture, but we are working with our counterparts,” Mr. Mayorkas told the media outlet. “It’s a process.”

The U.S. government has sought to negotiate with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on the deportation issue amid a surge in Chinese immigrants crossing into the United States illegally over the past year. But the CCP has refused to repatriate Chinese immigrants.

The Department of Homeland Security stated in a 2021 report that the CCP has refused to accept the deportation of about 40,000 Chinese nationals who have overstayed or violated their visa.

“Beijing’s refusal to cooperate forces ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] to release hundreds of PRC nationals, many with convictions for violent crimes, into American communities, jeopardizing public safety,” the report reads.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) encountered more than 52,000 Chinese nationals along the U.S. northern and southern borders in fiscal year 2023, which ended on Sept. 30, 2023. This was nearly twice the number in the prior fiscal year.

The number of encounters has been steadily rising, with 30,000 already recorded in the first four months of 2024, according to the CBP data.

Earlier this year, dozens of Chinese students were interrogated by U.S. border law enforcement officers, had their visas canceled, and were repatriated at Washington Dulles International Airport for their possible connections with the CCP.

The Chinese Embassy then lodged a formal protest against the United States for blocking Chinese students from entry and issued a caution over traveling through Dulles International Airport.

Chinese Ambassador to the United States Xie Feng said dozens of Chinese students holding valid visas have been denied entry over the past few months when returning to school from overseas travel or visiting relatives in China, according to a post on the Chinese Embassy website on Jan. 29.

However, Mr. Xie didn’t give specific reasons as to why the United States denied them entry.

It’s been known to the international community that the CCP uses overseas Chinese students to engage in espionage and steal intellectual property. U.S. intelligence agencies have been warning for years that Chinese students affiliated with the Chinese military pose a national security risk to the United States.

In May 2020, then-President Donald Trump issued Executive Order No. 10043 prohibiting the entry of Chinese students and scholars with F visas (student visas) and J visas (government-sponsored visiting scholar visas) who are connected to the CCP’s military.

Emel Akan, Steve Lance, and Alex Wu contributed to this report.