Tillis, GOP senators question DHS on illegal U.S. entry of Chinese nationals

U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) and several of his Republican colleagues denounced the more than 18,000 Chinese nationals who have illegally crossed the southern border in fiscal year 2023, some of them having ties to the Chinese Communist Party’s People’s Liberation Army.

“This trend poses a significant threat to our national security and warrants immediate attention and action from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS),” Sen. Tillis and the four other lawmakers wrote in a Sept. 20 letter sent to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. 

“Furthermore, it is our understanding that not a single one of these individuals encountered has been detained for any length of time but rather benefitted from this administration’s policy of catch and release,” wrote the senators.

Equally concerning, they wrote, is that Chinese nationals crossing the border may include individuals who could engage in espionage activities or cyberattacks against America’s critical infrastructure, government agencies, or private-sector entities.

“There have been numerous documented instances of Chinese nationals, at the direction of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), engaging in espionage, stealing military and economic secrets,” according to their letter.

Sen. Tillis and his colleagues requested that Secretary Mayorkas answer several questions by Oct. 11 regarding this information, including if U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has identified any Chinese nationals apprehended at the border who are on the Terrorist Screening Database; how CBP identifies the nationality of those from China and whether they have ties to the CCP or People’s Liberation Army; and if CBP has identified any instances of Chinese nationals apprehended at the border being suspected of intending to engage in foreign espionage, among others.