by Philip Lenczycki
The Biden administration drastically simplified the vetting process for Chinese illegal immigrants in April 2023, according to an internal U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) email obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
The April 2023 email, which was sent by a CBP supervisor to a “master list” of about 500 Border Patrol agents, instructs CBP officials to radically reduce the number of interview questions for Chinese migrants apprehended after illegally crossing into the country from roughly 40 to just five. The “headquarters guidance” came as border agents were overwhelmed with near-record numbers of illegal crossings.
This scaling back of the interview process fast-tracked the releasing of Chinese illegal immigrants into the U.S. while making it more difficult for CBP agents to identify national security threats, J.J. Carrell, a retired CBP deputy patrol agent in charge, told the DCNF after reviewing the email.
“This policy change has accelerated the time it takes to process Chinese illegal immigrants — this doesn’t make America safer,” Carrell said. “The final result is that dangerous Chinese illegal immigrants will still be released into the U.S.”
“This is just the government covering their ass, so they can say they vetted,” said Carrell. “I believe the government recognizes the threat of Chinese soldiers and spies that are pouring into America, and they want to try and identify these individuals. However, the same government does not want to stop the flow of illegal aliens or Chinese nationals — just the ‘bad ones,’ which is impossible.”
While previously agents might spend hours vetting a single Chinese illegal immigrant, the new guidance simplifies the vetting process by reducing the number of questions that agents are required to ask, thereby speeding up the flow of Chinese illegal immigrants into the U.S., Carrell said.
The former law enforcement official who provided the email to the DCNF said human smuggling operations quickly adapted to these new guidelines, coaching Chinese illegal immigrants on how to answer CBP’s shorter list of questions.
“It was almost immediate where [the Chinese illegal immigrants] knew what to say and what not to say,” said the former official, who requested anonymity in fear of U.S. government retribution.
Carrell described smuggling operations as “highly coordinated.” He told the DCNF that illegal immigrants are “coached from the beginning of the journey.”
“The stories are identical,” Carrell said. “The streets and the names they use just differ because of the nations they’re from.”
The April 2023 CBP email also states that Chinese illegal immigrants who pass field agents’ five “basic questions” may be released into the U.S. interior.
“If they do not alert to the above, there is no requirement to further delay current processing pathway — NTA/OR,” the email states.
“NTA/OR” is an abbreviation for “Notice to Appear” / “Order of Recognizance,” according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
In practice, this allows Chinese illegal immigrants entry into the U.S. with a court date several years down the road, the former official said. By November 2023, the backlog of U.S. immigration court cases topped three million, signifying an all-time high.
Since 2022, Border Patrol has encountered approximately 35,000 Chinese illegal immigrants at the border, according to CBP data. Between 2022 and 2023, Border Patrol encounters with Chinese illegal immigrants surged over 1,000%, according to government records.
After answering agents’ “basic questions,” Chinese illegal immigrants are “sent out wherever they go, whether that’s contracted through Catholic Charities or other nonprofits,” the former official said.
‘Basic Questions’
The new guidance directs agents to ask five “basic questions” concerning “Military Service,” “Universities,” “POB/Region,” “Employment” and “Political Party.” All the questions are aimed at determining whether or not a Chinese illegal immigrant poses a national security threat, the former official told the DCNF.
“They’re really trying to see their ties to either terrorism or the government itself,” the former official said.
Questions regarding “Military Service,” “Universities,” “Employment” and “Political Party” are meant to tease out potential ties to the Chinese government, Chinese Communist Party or Chinese military. The question on “POB/Region” relates to terrorism, the former official told the DCNF.
“If there is a Yes to any of the above, they are then referred and transported to [redacted] for an in-depth interview by Tactical Terrorism Response Team,” the April 2023 email states.
The Tactical Terrorism Response Team (TTRT) is “part of the sector intelligence unit,” which is responsible for conducting in-depth questioning for Chinese illegal immigrants with potential terror or Chinese government ties, the former official said.
“Think of TTRT as the vetting unit before an individual is determined to be a national security risk or a terrorist,” Carrell, the former CBP agent, told the DCNF. “If TTRT determines that the individual is a security risk, that individual is turned over to Joint Terrorism Task Force for further investigation and deportation.”
Despite these concerns, DHS’s Special Interest Alien (SIA) list does not include immigrants from China.
SIA are defined as a “non-U.S. person who, based on an analysis of travel patterns, potentially poses a national security risk to the United States or its interests,” according to DHS. “Often such individuals or groups are employing travel patterns known or evaluated to possibly have a nexus to terrorism. DHS analysis includes an examination of travel patterns, points of origin and/or travel segments that are tied to current assessments of national and international threat environments.”
‘Bogged Down’
The vetting system for Chinese illegal immigrants in place prior to the April 2023 email was overwhelmed by the recent surge in crossings at the southern border, the former law enforcement official told the DCNF.
Under the previous system, it took up to four hours to process Chinese illegal immigrants, the former official told the DCNF.
“At the very beginning, what was happening was either at the station level — if they couldn’t get them to the processing center if it was too bogged down — or at the sector level at the processing center, the agent would then have to go through a long list of questions and it was taking almost four hours per person,” the former official said.
Carrell said the CBP vetting process was far more stringent for Chinese illegal immigrants during the Trump administration.
“If I received a Chinese national, we’d input them into the DHS database, look through [the National Crime Information Center] for criminal history in America — and nine times out of 10 these people have never been in America — so they’ll come back clean,” Carrell told the DCNF. “I would then set that individual up for deportation and [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] would fly him or her back to China. Never in a million years would I then process that Chinese national and then just release them into America.”
“Now, that person would be interviewed, put into the database and then just simply street-released,” Carrell said.
The DCNF reviewed a copy of CBP’s longer questionnaire for Chinese illegal immigrants, which the former official also shared.
While field agents are no longer required to vet Chinese illegal immigrants using the longer questionnaire of approximately 40 questions, TTRT still uses that questionnaire to vet those who’ve failed the five “basic questions,” the former official said.
In addition to the five “basic questions,” CBP’s longer questionnaire further directs agents to ask Chinese illegal immigrants about “prior arrests,” the “handling of weapons/firearms,” “smuggling fees,” and various other matters.
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Philip Lenczycki is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation.
Most of us saw the thousands of Military age Chinese males walking into our Country. They looked more like tourists when they arrived than poor oppressed people looking for a better life. THEY WERE ALL MILITARY AGE MALES. They obviously arrived in Mexico by plane. Can any investigator track who paid for their airline tickets from China to Mexico. AND who believes the CCP would allow 34K military age men to leave China? It doesn’t pass the smell test. I’m assuming we American taxpayers paid for their travel etc. The money is laundered through the one of the corrupt NGOs aka Catholic Charities. As a lifelong Catholic, I am infuriated & ashamed of the Catholic Church for participating in this money laundering operation. As if there hasn’t Bern enough scandal in the Catholic Church. We know the FBI has placed real Catholics on a terrorist list.
NOTICE TO REP ANDY OGLES. SENATORS MARSHA BLACKBURN & HAGERTY: if we want to get more Republicans elected to the House & Senate this year, You must STOP FUNDING THESE tax exempt ” Charity Organizations” that we give Billions of dollars to while they break our laws by aiding & abetting the invasion of illegal aliens into our country. We taxpayers through these agencies, are paying to house, feed, & transport thousands of illegals everyday by busses & planes to various parts of America. It’s hard to hide 34K Chines Nationals. Where are they? Are they in some remote training camp ( perhaps in rural Tennessee)? These illegals are not even required to show IDs on Commercial Flights. WTF are our Elected Officials waiting for? Is it even a question that these organizations must be defunded in this budget process coming up?
You cannot negotiate on Border Security. The only thing Democrats understand is MONEY. If it takes Shutting the Government down, SO BE IT. We know essential operations don’t discontinue when the Government doesn’t get new money approved. WE ARE FED UP WITH THE DELAYS & LACK OF INTESTINAL FORTITUDE IN OUR PARTY. It looks like someone or something may be blackmailing our people in Congress. It’s no secret, the FBI has a file on every Congressman in America (both parties). Senator Schumer told us as much when he told the Media that our “Intelligence Communities can come after you every which way but Sunday” ( whatever the hell that means, it’s a threat). The made up trash that someone came up with to try and stop Justice Kavinaugh from being approved to serve on the US Supreme Court. Again, Schumer threatened Kavinaugh when Roe vs Wade was overturned. He publicly stated in a Press Conference that “Kavinaugh would not know what hit him”. Not one Senator brought the SOB up for Ethics Violations for threatening bodily harm on a Supreme Court Justice. It wasnt long after his public threat on Justice Kavinaugh, before a nut was captured who went to Kavinaughs home to murder him. It was like Schumer was publicly calling on the Intelligence Community take action. The Russian Dossier on President Trump (funded by Hillary Clinton) is a prime example as well. The FBI knew about it just likexthey knew Hunter Bidens laptop was not ” Russian Disinformation” , and yet 50 Intelligence Ofgicers signed a dicument confirming the laprtmtop was not Hunters. Well that lie has been proven false as well. Let’s not forget the FBI planned kidnapping plot on MI governor, which was debunked in court. The FBI director was not prosecuted for that sham. He was transferred to Washington DC to plan the Jan 6 Fedsurrection to entrap as many Trump supporters as possible with the end goal of keeping Trump from running in 2024. That sham is falling apparently as well. What dies it take for our Elected Officials to take some action? Who is going to investigate this & bring accountability to the FBI Director, the Mayor, Pelosi & Schumer for their roles in the Fedsurrection. People must be held accountable in this Congress. DO NOT WAIT TO SEE HOW THE 2024 ELECTION TURNS OUT. THE TIME US NOW. GET CONTROL OF THE,” NARATIVE” NOW. Or we may not have a Republic to defend.