The United States has sent a group of migrants back to China in the first major deportation flight since 2018 and said Tuesday it is working with Chinese authorities to to arrange extra flights.
The deportation, on a charter flight, took place over the weekend in coordination with Chinese authorities, the Department of Homeland Security said. The department did not specify how many migrants were on the plane, but The Associated Press and The Wall Street Journal reported that 116 were deported.
US and Chinese authorities were working together to arrange additional deportation flights, the statement said.
The announcement comes amid intense debate over immigration and border policy ahead of the U.S. presidential election in November. Since last year, a growing number of Chinese migrants have been making the journey to the U.S. via the southern border, hoping to escape bleak economic prospects and political repression.
Many follow a route popularized on social media that takes them through the treacherous Darién Gap on the border of Panama and Colombia, the only land route north from South America as migrants make their way to the United States. Once they reach the southern border, they surrender to U.S. border officials and request asylum, citing a credible fear of being sent back to China.
According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, more than 24,000 Chinese migrants were temporarily detained at the U.S. southern border in fiscal year 2023, more than in the previous decade combined.
According to Panama’s immigration service, Chinese migrants became the fourth-largest group to enter the U.S. this way last year, surpassed only by Venezuelans, Ecuadorians and Haitians.
The Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
