Border Patrol apprehension of Chinese nationals skyrockets near San Diego, agency claims

The U.S. Border Patrol has witnessed a marked rise in the number of Chinese nationals it has apprehended along the southern border over the past year.

"In FY24, San Diego Sector has made +140K apprehensions with +20K of them being from China (a more than 500% increase compared to last FYTD)," Border Patrol Chief Jason Owens confirmed.

The San Diego Sector includes 60 linear miles of the land border with Mexico as well 114 coastal border miles in the ocean.

Concerns over illegal entry by aliens from adversarial nations have abounded amid a surge in illegal crossings overall under the Biden administration. Between October and December of 2022, for instance, authorities encountered 1,915 Chinese individuals and 17,298 Russians.

More recently, the House Homeland Security Committee published a report in October asserting that the Department of Homeland Security admitted hundreds of thousands of "inadmissible" aliens through the CBP One app between Jan. 12, 2023, and Sept. 30, 2023. 

The panel revealed that more than 90% of nationals from Russia, Afghanistan, Venezuela, and Belarus secured admission to the U.S. through the use of the app. That rate was 88% for nationals from China and Iran. 

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter.