Biden Admin Watered Down Vetting Process For Chinese Illegal Immigrants; Experts Warn of National Security Risks After CBP Slashes Question List for Chinese Migrants from 40 to Just 5

By admin On Jan 22, 2024

Biden Admin Watered Down Vetting Process For Chinese Illegal Immigrants, Email Shows:

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. —>READ MORE HERE

Experts warn of national security risks after CBP slashes question list for Chinese migrants from 40 to just 5:

US Customs and Border Protection watered down the screening process for Chinese asylum seekers amid a record surge of such cases — but experts and lawmakers warn the move risks letting national security threats slip through the net.

The CBP slashed the number of questions its processors were required to ask from roughly 40 to just five following an uptick in monthly border crossings by Chinese nationals in the first quarter of 2023, according to an April 30 email published by the Daily Caller this week.

Experts told The Post that while the change was necessary to expedite CBP’s processing of applications, it heightens the prospect of accidentally granting asylum to bad actors from the nation’s top adversary.

“The change in procedure appears to reflect the reality that the volume of Chinese migrants is overwhelming the US immigration control system … [and] should speed up the processing of applicants,” said Timothy Heath, senior international defense researcher at the RAND Corporation think tank.

“However, any simplification risks raising the risk that unwanted individuals slip through the cracks,” Heath cautioned.

The House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party told The Post on Thursday that axing the questions was “unacceptable” – and posed a threat to national security.

“Americans do not want America’s foremost adversary facilitating the flow of fentanyl into our country or sending thousands of people across our border illegally,” the subcommittee said in a statement. “President Biden needs to secure the border now.”