Photo: Alamy
New information released by the federal government reveals that the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) detained an influx of Chinese migrants at the southern border since October, compared to the last fiscal year. The report comes soon after the U.S. military shot down the Chinese spy balloon over a week ago.
As per Just the News, the CBP’s latest report published Friday shows a 719 percent increase in Chinese migrant apprehensions at the southern border compared to the same time during the last fiscal year.
For instance, 366 Chinese migrants were encountered at the border between October and January of the 2022 fiscal year, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data reported by Just the News. That number spiked, soaring to 2,999 in the same time frame this fiscal year, the outlet added.
Further, encounters since the start of the 2023 fiscal year in October have already surpassed the total number of Chinese encounters in the fiscal year 2022.
As shown by the report, the total number of Chinese encounters at the southern border last fiscal year was 2,176, significantly lower than 2,999 in just the first four months of the 2023 fiscal year, per Just the News.
The report follows the news that the U.S. military shot down a Chinese spy balloon that traversed the continental U.S.
According to Fox News, military officials ordered the spycraft to be taken down a week after it was first discovered. Despite attempts from the Pentagon to console citizens fearful that the balloon obtained access to crucial information, geopolitical experts told the outlet that the craft most likely sent surveillance data to China while hovering over the military bases.
Responding to the Pentagon’s claims that it “acted immediately to protect against the collection of sensitive information,” geopolitical analyst Brandon Weichert said, “that’s B.S,” the outlet reported.
“With all due respect to the Pentagon I think that’s B.S. — they’re saying that to protect their ego and image,” Weichert told Fox News Digital. “This was a long-ranged surveillance mission prompted partly by comments from the Pentagon about the possibility of going to war.”
President Donald Trump also called out the “incompetent” Biden administration for its handling of the spycraft, writing on Truth Social: “The Chinese Balloon situation is a disgrace, just like the Afghanistan horror show, and everything else surrounding the grossly incompetent Biden Administration.”
“They are only good at cheating in elections, and disinformation — and now they are putting out that a Balloon was put up by China during the Trump Administration, in order to take the ‘heat’ off the slow moving Biden fools,” he added.
Responding to claims that Chinese spy crafts were flown during the Trump administration, Trump affirmed that “China had too much respect for ‘TRUMP’ for this to have happened, and it NEVER did. JUST FAKE DISINFORMATION!”
Moreover, two more crafts carrying a payload hovering over Canada and Alaska have been shot down, a U.S. official verified to Fox News Sunday.
The origins of the crafts remain unknown.