I spoke to Fox & Friends Tuesday morning about why there is a rising number of Chinese migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. You can watch the show clip here.
To give you some background, here is an excerpt from a piece I wrote for Fox News last year:
“For Chinese nationals who seek to escape China, coming to the U.S. through Latin America is a protracted, expensive and perilous journey.
The 2,300-mile trek usually begins with Chinese nationals flying to Ecuador, one of the few South American countries they can enter visa-free. From Ecuador, Chinese with means typically pay about $60,000 or more for "more direct or safer smuggling routes, such as air passage to Mexico, where 'snakehead agents’ bribe customs officials to let Chinese in with forged travel documents," according to the Wall Street Journal.
Chinese nationals with lesser means usually pay between $7,000 and $10,000 to have smugglers take them to the U.S.-Mexico border through more indirect routes. They must pass through some of the most dangerous areas, including the Darién Gap jungle and Mexico’s notorious Highway 101, known as the "Highway of Death." Chinese migrants are frequent victims of carjackings, robberies, sexual assaults and other violent crimes.
Economic and political reasons drove these Chinese nationals to make a long and risky journey to the U.S. When China’s current dictator Xi Jinping came to power in late 2012, he promised the nation’s 1.4 billion people a "Chinese dream – to deliver prosperity and national rejuvenation." Yet, the Chinese people soon realized Xi’s "Chinese dream" was their nightmare.”