Illegal Chinese national arrested at California Marine base...what was he doing there?

EL CENTRO, CA - It has been reported (at least in conservative media) about the number of military-aged Chinese males who have been coming into the United States courtesy of the Biden administration. However, concerns have ramped up after a Chinese national was arrested at a military base in California, Newsweek reported. 

Republican lawmakers have long expressed concern over the influx of Chinese men entering the country at the porous US-Mexico border. The Chinese have also made their way into the US at the almost as porous US-Canadian border. 

Nearly three dozen members of Congress, including Republican Senators Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), have requested the Department of Homeland Security implement visa changes. For example, Chinese nationals can enter U.S. territories such as Guam via the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands without possessing B-1 (business) or B-2 (tourism) visas, which lawmakers believe needs to be reformed.

Last week, Border Patrol chief Gregory Bovino, in a post on X, wrote that Border Patrol agents responded to a call from a military base about a Chinese national in the El Centro Sector (‘who entered the base without authorization ignoring orders to leave.” 

“Subject was confirmed to be in the country illegally,” Bovinor wrote while also posting an image of the subject. “His purpose & intent behind his actions are still being investigated.” 

Newsweek said they contacted Customs and Border Protection for comment; however, no response was received by press time. 

Meanwhile, Jon Feere, director of investigations at the Center for Immigration Studies who served as a senior adviser to the director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, wondered how the illegal alien ended up in the United States, to begin with. 

‘Illegally here because he overstayed/violated a visa? Or illegally here because he crossed the border without inspection?” Feere asked on X. 

Gordon Chang is a political commentator, and an expert on China who proposed the Chinese illegal may have been an operative. 

“We have to assume this #Chinese national is a soldier or operative of some sort. Send him to #Guantanamo.” 

The El Centro Sector, located in Southern California’s Imperial Valley, has existed for almost 100 years. It covers 410 square miles and shares 70 miles of border with Mexico. It houses four border patrol stations in El Centro, Calexico, Indio, and Riverside. 

There has been a surge of Chinese nationals crossing the border, with approximately 15,700 crossing in just the first three months of FY-2024, which began in October. Those numbers are beyond the 14,600 encounters with Chinese illegals in FY-2023, which sat at approximately 14,600 encounters, according to CBP data. 

Newsweek reported that last week, the Department of Justice indicted seven Chinese nationals accused of hacking on behalf of the Chinese communists for over 14 years.