In 2023, a rising number of Chinese individuals entered the United States through the Darién Gap, Panama. According to Panamanian immigration authorities, Chinese nationals ranked as the fourth-largest group to cross the Darién Gap during the initial nine months of 2023, after Venezuelans, Ecuadorians, and Haitians.
The perilous Darién Gap route was historically traversed mainly by Cubans and Haitians, with fewer instances involving people from Nepal, India, Cameroon, and Congo.
In China, anyone could become a target of the Chinese Communist Party, regardless of social status, occupation, or religion. Xi faces a growing number of citizens leaving the country. It has been reported that the Chinese migrants fleeing their country, the world's second-largest economy, consist primarily of educated and affluent individuals who are utilizing legal avenues such as education and work visas to escape bleak economic prospects and political oppression.
The Chinese who undertook the Darién Gap journey ("zouxian") mostly hailed from a lower middle-class background. They expressed fears of falling into poverty amid a worsening Chinese economy and an inability to envision a future for themselves or their children in their home country. They have followed a widely circulated playbook on social media: crossing the border through the Darién Gap, surrendering to U.S. border control officers, getting detained in immigration jails, and applying for asylum by citing a credible fear if sent back to China. Many are released within days, and upon accepting their asylum applications, they can establish a new life and work in the United States.
According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, more than 24,000 Chinese migrants were temporarily detained on the southern U.S. border in the 2023 fiscal year. This marked a significant rise from the fewer than 15,000 caught in the past ten years.
The United Nations estimates that China will see a net loss of 310,000 people through emigration this year, a sharp increase from the 120,000 recorded in 2012.