In what may be a too little, too late move, Mexican military are now blocking a flood of Chinese migrants from illegally crossing into the US near a border hot spot in California.
Migrants camps on the US-Mexico border that were filled just days ago with mostly Chinese asylum-seekers sat empty for the last few days near Jacumba, east of San Diego.
The migrants have been replaced with a new presence on the border: the Mexican National Guard, which has set up tanks and is using barbed wired to block openings big enough for people to sneak through.
Jacumba, a town of less than less than 600 residents, has become a flash point in recent months, attracting many Chinese migrants.
Up until last week, non-profits that give food and water to migrants as they wait to surrender to US Border Patrol say they were seeing 400 migrants a day since September.
In recent days, they’ve seen little or none at all.
The border in Jacumba, California, this week was eerily quiet just days after dozens of Chinese migrants were seen arriving in droves
Last week, dozens of Chinese migrants were seen arriving at the border hotspot. They were then taken to San Diego
Aerial drone view of Mexican National Guard vehicles and camp site near US/Mexico border fence in Jacumba, Calif. Feb. 26. The site was largely unpatrolled last week
For days, the only activity along the border wall in Jacumba were the US Border Patrol agents keeping watch and Mexican military on the other side
Camps where Chinese migrants would wait for Border Patrol to take them into custody are now empty. A few days ago, dozens of migrants would be at one of three tent camps like this one in Jacumba
Migrants had been coming into remote Jacumba in such large numbers, that it overwhelmed Border Patrol’s resources. Migrants were waiting up to five days in the makeshift camps until Border Patrol had space to officially take the migrants into custody
‘Asylum’ this way: Signs written in Chinese and English guide the way for migrants arriving in Jacumba to start their new life in America
The crackdown came in the days leading up to Biden and Trump’s scheduled visit to Brownsville, Texas.
More than 150 Chinese nationals a day have snuck into the US illegally since October, according to startling new CBP statistics.
Among the record numbers of migrants flooding the southern border, Chinese illegal immigrants made up the fastest-growing faction of border crossers last year.
‘We were seeing hundreds of people a day,’ a local who works at the hotel in town told DailyMail.com.
‘Then the Mexican National Guard showed up and it just stopped– like night and day. Makes you wonder why they didn’t do this sooner.’
Mexican forces have set up post on the south side of the border, in areas where the US border wall stops because there are mountains where the wall can’t be built.
The steel barrier comes right up to the mountain, but there is still enough space a person can squeeze through to get in.
‘Thing have changed in the last few day, I mean radically changed, and that is because of the Mexican side,’ Samuel Schultz, a local volunteer who hands out food and water to migrants, told DailyMail.com.
The number of Chinese nationals entering the US across the southern border has surged since 2021, amid a mass exodus from the oppressive communist country
Remote Jacumba, California has become a migrant hot spot since September, when locals started seeing migrants– mostly from China– arriving by the hundreds per day. The town itself is home to about 600 residents
On Feb. 15, dozens of Chinese migrants arrived in one large, single group near Jacumba, Calif.
Dozens of Chinese migrants showed up at one time, as a there has been a recent surge in migrants from China arriving at the US-Mexico border
The timing of Mexican troops’ arrival on the border, days before President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump both head to the border in Texas Thursday, seemed like too much of a coincidence to some.
‘They don’t just wake up and say they’re going to go look for illegal immigrants,’ said border Sheriff Thaddeus Cleveland in Terrell County, Texas of Mexican officials.
‘100% pressure from the United State is what causes that reaction for them to get out on the border.’
Mexico has surged its law enforcement presence at the border in previous high-profile by US officials to the international boundary, including when Biden last visited El Paso, Texas in January 2023.
The West Texas city, which has been struggling under the strain of thousands of migrants sleeping on the streets, was cleaned up days ahead of the Commander in Chief’s visit.
Samuel Schultz, a local volunteer who hands out food and water to migrants, says things have changed drastically since Mexican forces arrived and started cracking down on the issue last week
Mexican forces add barbed wire to openings in the border barrier with the US near Jacumba, California
Once busy migrant crossing points are now deserted in Jacumba
Mexican law enforcement has set up post just south of the US border wall near Jacumba, California
Mexican cartels which profit from smuggling migrants into the US, have an interest in seeing illegal immigration into the US continue, Cleveland added.
The Biden administration appealed to Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to aid the crisis last month
‘They’re a corrupt country– really the cartels run the country, yes they have a president, but many times later, it comes out that members of the cabinet were paid off by the cartels.’
Things change quickly on the border– with long-time popular crossing areas slowing down when security is added.
Migrants and the smugglers who make millions of the desperation of people wanting to get into the US at any price, simply find another way to get in.
‘I think it will go down for a while, but how long of a while– until people figure out a way around it,’ Schultz explained.
‘Now, whether they will come through here again…its a big border. They may find a way that works better.
‘Remember, these people are learning about this constantly on their phones. Whatever method works is transmitted very quickly online.
‘If they find one that works, you can bet your a– they’re going to be right on it.’
Both Biden and Trump are due to visit Brownsville, Texas, on Thursday