I've been meaning to get to this story for a few days, but I think it's worth the wait. CBS News' signature 60 Minutes program recently aired a lengthy package about an illegal border crossing location in California that has been exploited by a near-constant stream of illegal immigrants, many of whom are entering the United States from China. In fact, Chinese nationals are one of the fastest-growing populations breaking the law to come into US territory. The CBS cameras captured hundreds of illegal immigrants passing into the country through a fence gap over the course of just a few days. Some of the details -- even if you've been following the border crisis closely, as we have -- are astonishing. This segment, fronted by corresponded Sharyn Alfonsi, is worth the 13-minute investment:
Some of the migrants made a grueling journey through Central America with dusty backpacks…but we noticed middle class migrants from China arriving with rolling bags. They told us they took flights all the way to Mexico. Some flew from China to Ecuador, because it doesn't require a visa for Chinese nationals. Then, took flights to Tijuana, Mexico. The migrants told us they connected with smugglers, or what they call snake heads, in Tijuana...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...We wondered how all of these migrants…knew about this particular entryway into California. The answer was in their hands...TikTok is a social media platform created in China. The posts we found had step-by-step instructions for hiring smugglers and detailed directions to that hole we visited. We were struck by just how orderly and routine it all seemed. The migrants walked about a half mile down a dirt road and waited in line for U.S. Border Patrol to arrive so they could surrender.
TikTok posts provide a very specific virtual roadmap to this particular location. See for yourself:
Videos on TikTok are providing migrants with step-by-step instructions for hiring a smuggler and illegally entering America through a small gap in the southern border fence. https://t.co/WbQBF6SSUE pic.twitter.com/mIGhEjBYox
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) February 5, 2024
It turns out that they're funneled onto private land owned by a legal immigrant, whose frustration and disillusionment is palpable:
“They come with the suitcases. They come prepared with the computers just like they got off on a Norwegian cruise ship yesterday,” says Jerry Shuster. He’s seen thousands of migrants crossing the U.S. border and then camping on his property. https://t.co/ktCgkk9RL7 pic.twitter.com/1TnUb4J6LT
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) February 5, 2024
This exchange is especially maddening:
Alfonsi: Shuster says it all started in May. He went to investigate some smoke coming from his property and found migrants burning trees to stay warm. Today, his property looks like a messy moonscape…littered with the trash and tents migrants have left behind.
Alfonsi: Have you ever just yelled, "Get outta here?"
Shuster: Well, they say—I uh - it was, like, four month ago, there was eight guys start-- knocking my trees and start burning my-- my-- my trees on the other side. So I told 'em, "Please, don't do that. Please don't do--" and they start surrounding me. I went home, and I got my gun, and I shoot in the air. They arrest me.
Alfonsi: They arrested you?
Shuster: Yeah, they arrest me.
Alfonsi: On your property?
Shuster: Yeah, on my property. Yeah, just because. I ask 'em not to burn the trees, not to knock the fences. And they-- they arrested me. They put me in a police car. I'm just protecting my own land.
Alfonsi: Shuster wasn't charged – but his gun was confiscated. If you had to guess, how many migrants do you think you've seen come through here?
Shuster: Maybe 3,000—a week.
They arrested the legal immigrant who fired his own gun on his own property, as a warning shot to illegal immigrants who were burning things on his property? Upside-down "justice." Over the course of the report, several illegal immigrants from China tell CBS that they've come to America in pursuit of opportunity and to escape the CCP's repressive policies. Those are understandable and empathy-inducing desires, but they cannot justify just walking into our country illegally. But this is now the norm under the Biden administation. It's the endless status quo. And it just keeps getting worse under this failing, blame-shifting president:
STUNNING NUMBERS: MORE THAN 1 MILLION MIGRANT ENCOUNTERS SINCE OCT 1, 2023 PER CBP SOURCES. The number is roughly 100,000 encounters higher than the same period last year, when the U.S. saw 908,000 encounters. This is the earliest the U.S. has ever reached the 1 million encounter… pic.twitter.com/gzQaOIX14L
— America's Newsroom (@AmericaNewsroom) February 7, 2024
"Chinese illegal immigrants made up the fastest-growing group of border crossers last year, and fiscal year 2024 is on track to shatter that record. The CBP encountered over 37,000 Chinese migrants last year, but they have already encountered nearly 20,000 since October. The CBP source says they have encountered roughly 150 Chinese migrants per day this fiscal year."
And since we've covering a story involving mayhem inflicted by "asylum seekers" and migrants who've made their way to New York, I'll leave you with this new incident:
Palestinian migrant from Africa crosses the border illegally, travels to New York, then rips the Israeli flag off a Long Island homeowner’s porch and physically attacks the homeowner while screaming about Jews. https://t.co/mDEErd1BWq
— AG (@AGHamilton29) February 7, 2024
Might voters in next week's Long Island special election consider their choice something of a referendum on this toxic blend of Democratic policies? The Democrat in the Congressional race is on camera saying he "100 percent" endorses the Biden agenda.