House Committee investigates surge of Chinese nationals illegally crossing border after Biden relaxes vetting: Report

The House Homeland Security Committee's Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations, and Accountability plans to investigate the surge of Chinese nationals illegally crossing the border after the Biden administration relaxed the vetting process, the Daily Caller News Foundation reported.

According to Customs and Border Protection reporting, in the first six months of fiscal year 2024, border agents nationwide encountered 42,000 Chinese nationals compared to 18,000 during the same period the previous fiscal year.

The committee will hold a hearing on Thursday to discuss the approximately 8,000% increase in Chinese illegal immigration in the United States since March 2021, a spokesperson for the committee told the DCNF.

'We have no idea who they are, why they're here, and what their history is.'

U.S. Representative Dan Bishop (R-North Carolina), chair of the subcommittee, told the news outlet that a "wide-open border presents a ripe opportunity for the [Chinese Communist Party] to undermine our national security."

"This dramatic surge calls for intense scrutiny — especially as Border Patrol agents have been instructed to decrease vetting for Chinese nationals in order to process them into the country faster," Bishop stated. "As the CCP continues its quest for geopolitical dominance and threatens our sovereignty, we must examine the risks presented by releasing ever-increasing numbers of minimally vetted Chinese nationals into our communities."

Todd Bensman, a senior national fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies, is one of three experts expected to testify during Thursday's hearing.

Bensman told the DCNF, "Intelligence community assessments show that China intends to ramp up espionage and political suppression campaigns in the coming years inside the U.S. and will need an expanded labor force for the effort."

The news outlet revealed earlier this year that the Biden administration had instructed CBP to significantly reduce the number of questions posed to Chinese nationals who had entered the country illegally since April 2023. The vetting process, which previously consisted of 40 questions, was reduced to five, effectively fast-tracking the illegal aliens' release into the interior of the country. According to the internal email obtained by the DCNF, the questions concerned "Military Service," "Universities," "POB/Region," "Employment," and "Political Party."

Bensman told the DCNF that the administration's policies have "created pitch-perfect conditions" for "the infiltration of Chinese agents of espionage." During his testimony, Bensman is expected to share photographs of identification cards and passports abandoned by Chinese nationals before crossing the border illegally.

Bill Wells, the mayor of El Cajon, California, recently shared a video on X showing hundreds of discarded and torn IDs found near the San Diego border. He noted that some of the IDs had been lit on fire.

"There's a reason for that — they don't want anyone to know who they are. They want to apply for asylum, get their court date for five years in the future, and disappear into the interior of the country," Wells told Blaze News. "We have no idea who they are, why they're here, and what their history is."

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