The New Face of Illegal Immigration

The New York Times had a great article about illegal immigration. It revealed to me something I would have never thought of. I have always had the impression that the illegal immigrants that everyone in our country is so opposed to were all Mexican. According to this article, that is not true. Recently there has been an influx of many illegal Chinese into America. They are mostly making their way into the country through a very popular smuggling route in Tucson, Arizona. The number of Chinese entering America "increased tenfold in the last fiscal year, according to the United States Border Patrol in Tucson." This trend doesn't look like it's stopping either. So far "Border Patrol's Tucson sector arrested 281 Chinese immigrants from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31, the first quarter of the current fiscal year." More surprising to me than the numbers of Chinese coming into this country is the way in which they get here. It has gotten a lot harder for them to come directly to Mexico from China so instead they make elaborate plans. "In the most common one, immigrants fly from Beijing to Rome, board a plane to Caracas, Venezuela, fly to Mexico City and work their way up to the northern border and into the United States. In another, they travel to Cuba, fly to the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico and travel north into the United States." Because of this Chinese immigrants commonly have to pay $40,000 dollars to smugglers instead of Mexicans who pay $1,500 to $3,000.
The influx of Chinese immigrants went unnoticed for a while. "In 2009, 11,628 of the Tucson sector's 241,673 arrests were non-Mexican -- nearly 5 percent. Only when the sector noticed the influx did it tally the number of Chinese entering in recent years." Still most people don't even know about this. They focus all their attention on the Mexicans that come across the border and don't even stop to think that maybe there are other groups of people that could be coming in either. I never even thought that other people would try to come in this way until I read this article. Some immigrants even have to pay a deposit before they can even leave China. Anywhere from $5,000 to $10,000 dollars is paid and not guaranteed back in the immigrant gets caught and sent back. This article helped open my eyes to the idea that people from all over try to come into this country illegally. I think just because they don't fit into the stereotype of a Mexican illegal immigrant, people over look all others and don't think twice. I wonder how many other people are here illegally from other countries that we don't even realize.


Ceasar, Stephen. "In Arizona, a Stream of Illegal Immigrants From China.(National Desk)." The New York Times. (Jan 23, 2010): A11(L). Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Deerfield High School. 5 Feb. 2010 .