'60 Minutes' Cameras Catch Illegal Chinese Immigrants Pouring Into California: 'We Were Surprised'
When “60 Minutes” calls the situation at the border “unprecedented,” you know it has to be bad.
A shocking video shot at an unofficial crossing point near San Diego by the CBS show’s crew illustrated how easy it is for migrants to enter the country through a gap in the fence that borders private property.
The “60 Minutes” segment focused on Chinese citizens entering the U.S. illegally as part of a larger trend of border breaches, with Customs and Border Protection reporting apprehensions of 2.5 million illegal immigrants in the last year.
It was obvious from the reporting that even CBS reporter Sharyn Alfonsi was taken aback by what she saw.
“We were surprised to see the number of people coming through from China — nearly 7,000 miles away,” she said.
The “60 Minutes” crew witnessed the organized and routine nature of these crossings happening right before their eyes.
Groups of around 20 Chinese migrants would arrive every 30 minutes in SUVs driven by smugglers. The migrants would then walk single-file through the gap in the fence, ducking under a bit of razor wire.
At one point, Alfonsi helped an illegal migrant, pointing out a hazard as she entered the country.
An armed Border Patrol agent stood just 25 feet away but did nothing to deter the illegals from crossing.
The CBS team interviewed some of the Chinese migrants to understand their motivations.
A 20-year-old college graduate said he hoped to find work in Los Angeles after making the arduous 40-day journey from China through countries including Thailand, Morocco, Ecuador and Colombia.
A 37-year-old woman decided to leave after harsh COVID-19 lockdowns destroyed her child care business in China.
Others included a factory worker, a teacher, a banker and small business owners.
“Last year, U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported 37,000 Chinese citizens were apprehended crossing illegally from Mexico into the U.S. — that’s 50 times more than two years earlier,” Alfonsi said.
She said 75-year-old Jerry Shuster — a naturalized immigrant from Yugoslavia — owns the 17-acre stretch of land in California.
Shuster told Alfonsi he “knocked on this door” when he arrived in America — he didn’t “bust the door down to come in here.”
“You came through the front door,” she responded.
“I came through the front door,” he replied, adding that these illegal immigrants don’t care.
“They come through the hole like they’re coming to their own country over here,” Shuster said. “And nobody [does] nothing about it.”
He told Alfonsi that it started in May, when Shuster went to investigate smoke rising from his land. He discovered groups of illegal immigrants cutting down his trees for firewood and shelter.
In the months since, he said, a constant flow of Chinese nationals passes through his property after making the short walk from the border fence.
Shuster estimated about 3,000 migrants now traverse his land every week.
“They come with the suitcases; they come prepared with the computers just like they got off on a Norwegian cruise ship yesterday,” he said.
Shuster recounted confronting a group of men chopping down his trees and burning them to stay warm. He asked them to stop.
But local police arrested him instead for firing warning shots when the men surrounded him.
“They arrest me, they put me in the police car … just protecting my own land,” the frustrated land owner said.
Alfonsi explained how all the Chinese migrants seemed to know the exact spot to get in. Surprise, surprise: They found out on TikTok.
She said the Chinese social media app gives “step-by-step instructions for hiring smugglers and detailed directions to that hole we visited.”
The reason these illegal immigrants are so confident about making the trip is that they are almost certain they won’t be sent back.
Alfonsi spoke to a Chinese immigration attorney who told her that even if the U.S. denied a Chinese migrant’s asylum claim, China would refuse to take the person back.
She reported that according to the Department of Justice, 55 percent of Chinese migrants were granted asylum last year, compared with 14 percent for other nationalities.
Alfonsi said “60 Minutes” contacted Customs and Border Protection in D.C. and was told border agents “don’t have authority to stop people from coming through gaps like this one and can only arrest them after they’ve entered illegally.”
“As for closing that gap, they said it is on their priority list but would require money from Congress,” she said.
The procedures in place to handle these border crossers, as witnessed and recorded by the “60 Minutes” team, reveal the utter helplessness of Border Patrol agents.
Illegal immigrants receive detailed instructions on where to find smugglers who will help them breach our border.
Instead of being able to restrict their entry, Border Patrol agents process them after they have already set foot on American soil.
A short detention later, most are free to essentially begin their new lives within the very nation whose borders they crossed illegally while they await asylum hearings.
This is not enforcement — it is welcoming with open arms.
The Biden administration continues to demand more money for border agents, but what good does that do when these agents have no authority to prevent the crime before it occurs?
With 3,000 migrants a day coming in through just one little gap, the situation has now gotten completely out of hand, which is why even mainstream media outlets are finally paying attention.
Even if these migrants’ intentions are good, America cannot take in the entire world.
The very strong possibility that not all of them are here for upright reasons makes the situation even worse.
This year’s presidential election will be a referendum on the Biden policies that have caused this abject disaster.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
