The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said the U.S. repatriated 116 Chinese immigrants on the first “large charter flight” of its kind in five years.
“We will continue to enforce our immigration laws and deport individuals who do not have a lawful basis to remain in the United States,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement.
The flight took place over the weekend amid intense political debate over Chinese immigration ahead of the U.S. presidential election.
The department said it was working with China to “reduce and deter irregular migration and combat illegal human smuggling through expanded law enforcement.” It did not answer questions about how long immigrants had been in the United States.
The department said it was working with China to conduct more clearance flights in the future but did not give a timetable for the next one.
In recent years, the United States has encountered difficulties with repatriations due to China’s refusal to take back Chinese citizens who do not have the right to reside in the United States. The number of Chinese immigrants entering the United States illegally from Mexico surged last year.
In 2023, U.S. border officials arrested more than 37,000 Chinese citizens at the southern border, 10 times the number the previous year.
Chinese immigration has increasingly become a rallying cry for Republicans and former President Donald Trump, who have expressed doubts about why Chinese immigrants are coming to the United States.
Asia Initiative groups worry the rhetoric could encourage harassment of Asians, while immigrants themselves say they come here to escape poverty and oppression.
Earlier this year, the United States and China resumed cooperation on immigration. The Chinese government says it firmly opposes “all forms of illegal immigration.” The Chinese Embassy in the United States said in a statement in May that China’s law enforcement agencies were “severely cracking down on criminal activities that endanger national border security and maintaining a high-pressure posture against various smuggling organizations and criminals.”
Earlier this year, a charter flight carried a small but unknown number of deportees to the northeastern Chinese city of Shenyang, according to Thomas Cartwright of Border Witnesses, an advocacy group that tracks deportation flights.
Homeland Security officials did not say how many people were on the March 30 flight, but the Gulfstream V typically seats 14 people.
The announcement of the big weekend charter flights comes amid efforts elsewhere to shut down key routes for Chinese migrants to the Western Hemisphere.
The United States announced on Monday that it would bear the cost of repatriating migrants who entered Panama illegally under a deal with the Central American country’s new president.
Separately, Ecuador effectively reinstated visas for Chinese citizens as of July 1, after the South American country reported a worrying increase in irregular migration.
Ecuador is one of only two mainland countries in the Americas that offers visa-free entry to Chinese citizens, and has become a popular starting point for Chinese immigrants heading north to the United States.
