In recent days, there have been frequent reports in the United States of Chinese immigrants being detained or deported. Apart from non-citizens who may be deported for violent crimes, naturalized citizens who commit crimes within the statutory period (between five years before applying for citizenship and taking the oath of citizenship) may also face deportation.
Due to the delay in Congress passing the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) annual budget, federal funding has been interrupted, and since mid-February, the department has been shut down for 46 days. Nevertheless, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) continues to carry out immigration enforcement across the country, and the deportation actions have not ceased.
This week, a Chinese couple was stripped of their U.S. citizenship by a San Diego immigration judge for stealing medical business secrets and selling them to China for profit. The couple, who naturalized in 2017, was arrested in 2019. The court determined that their illegal actions seriously damaged their moral character, making them ineligible for naturalization.
Last week, the Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) under ICE arrested a Chinese woman in Los Angeles on suspicion of child abuse and she is awaiting deportation. In China, some parents may use appropriate corporal punishment to discipline their children, but in the United States, crossing the line into abuse constitutes a serious offense, leading to deportation for non-citizens.
Additionally, one of the “most brutal gangs in the world,” MS-13 executioner Aviles Perez, also known as “the Witch,” was arrested by ICE agents in San Diego last week and is awaiting deportation. Perez was wanted in El Salvador for gang-related murders but entered the U.S. illegally. He was arrested in 2023 for stabbing others with a knife, but due to California’s sanctuary laws, he was released back into the community.
According to data collected by the Deportation Data Project (DDP), from February 15 to March 10 this year, ICE conducted targeted or incidental arrests of 2,123 individuals in California, including 76 Chinese citizens. Since the beginning of the year, there have been at least 229 arrest operations related to Chinese citizens.
Some of the detained Chinese individuals have been released after undergoing “Alternatives to Detention,” while others have been included in the ERO Criminal Alien Program or the Fugitive Operations program to prevent illegal immigrants from escaping.
In the whole of last year, at least 716 Chinese citizens were detained by ICE in California, significantly higher than the second-ranked New York (487 individuals).
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has repeatedly issued news about ICE’s arrests of illegal immigrants, emphasizing that nearly 70% have been criminally charged or convicted in the U.S. Lauren Bis, Acting Assistant Secretary of DHS, stated that ICE will continue to fulfill its mission by removing dangerous criminal illegal immigrants from communities to safeguard the safety of American citizens.
According to LAist, the number of immigrants detained by ICE in Los Angeles surged last year to about 14,000 individuals, significantly higher than the previous year’s 4,681 individuals. Among those arrested, 46% had criminal records, and another 15% faced charges.
The months with the highest number of arrests were June and July last year: 2,425 individuals were detained in June, with 1,312 having no criminal records or pending charges; 1,927 individuals were detained in July, with 1,015 having no criminal records or pending charges.
A report from the Migration Policy Institute shows that in fiscal years 2021 to 2024, the countries with the highest number of people deported from the United States were Mexico (95,700 people), Guatemala (15,400 people), Honduras (13,700 people), El Salvador (6,600 people), and the Dominican Republic (3,200 people).