100K Undocumented Chinese in US Hit Hard: ICE Stops Them on the Way to Work, Entry Routes Shut

A Chinese restaurant owner was stopped and arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, on his way to work in New York on October 20th. Local media identified him as Dian Zhao Lin. He's being held at an ICE detention facility in Batavia, New York. The Department of Homeland Security and ICE said Lin entered the United States illegally in 1998. An immigration judge ordered his deportation on November 29, 1999. The Board of Immigration Appeals, or BIA, denied his request to reopen the case on July 26, 2023. In a written statement, an ICE spokesperson said agency records identify him as Sin, one of his several aliases. The spokesperson said he'd been living and working illegally in the United States for more than 25 years and would remain in custody until deportation. The arrest quickly drew widespread attention. Media outlets and social media accounts suspected of being influenced or controlled by the Chinese Communist Party's foreign propaganda operations highlighted his lack of criminal record in the United States. They also sharply criticized the U.S. federal government. Many Chinese social media users disagreed with those criticisms. One wrote, there are so many people who live in the United States but talk every day about how much they love China. They keep boasting about how wonderful China is, so why insist on staying in the U.S.? Another wrote, does not harming society mean you can stay in the United States illegally? Then let me stay in your home. I promise not to hurt you. Would you agree? Another commented, he looks like a spy to me. One user even wrote, the number of Chinese immigrants living illegally in the United States is huge, supposedly as many as 100,000. Many could be CCP agents. The places where they stay or live also serve as CCP contact points. When ICE arrests people now, there's often a deeper background investigation behind it. It may involve more than just living here illegally for years. The FBI has been watching these people closely. As the U.S. midterm elections draw global attention, the federal government is stepping up its crackdown on illegal voting. A major part of that effort is scrutinizing immigrants from China who are in the country illegally as a potential source of illegal votes. The CCP is viewed as the country's leading adversary. U.S. Customs and Border Protection, or CBP, working with the Coast Guard intercepted a migrant smuggling boat off of Florida. More than half of those aboard were Chinese. According to CBP, officers spotted and intercepted a speedboat in Angel Fish Creek near Key Largo, Florida on September 15. 23 people were arrested. They included a Cuban man who organized the smuggling operation and 22 undocumented migrants, 13 Chinese nationals, eight Ecuadorian nationals, and one Dominican national. A CBP aircraft first spotted the suspicious boat and alerted maritime officers. Officers approached the boat and took those aboard into custody. There was no confrontation and no one was injured. Everyone was transferred to the Coast Guard for identity checks and further processing. Authorities seized the boat. The presence of 13 Chinese nationals trying to enter the U.S. by sea was unusual. Migrant smuggling routes through the Caribbean have typically been used by people from Cuba, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic. Most Chinese nationals who enter the United States illegally cross the land border with Mexico through California or Texas. Officers said 23 people were crammed into a boat just 27 feet long. a boat that small can easily capsize if it encounters strong winds, large waves, engine trouble, or flooding at sea. Andres Blanco, executive director of CBP Air and Marine Operations Southeast Region, warned that trying to enter the United States illegally by sea is extremely dangerous and will not go undetected. He said those attempting it risk arrest, prosecution, and deportation. They could also die at sea before reaching the United States. On the same day, September 15, officers uncovered another attempt to smuggle a Chinese national into the country at the San Ysidro port in San Diego, California. Antonio Jimenez Reyes, a U.S. citizen, drove a Jeep Cherokee from Mexico to the U.S. border and requested entry. When CBP officers inspected the cargo area, they found a Chinese national without valid entry documents hidden in the spare tire well. A compartment normally used to store a spare tire had become a hiding place for a person. The vehicle had reached the border checkpoint. Only the inspection remained, but officers found the hidden passenger. Jimenez Reyes was arrested and charged with bringing someone into the country for financial gain. Federal prosecutors said the Chinese national had paid nearly 60,000 U.S. dollars to be smuggled into the U.S. The San Ysidro port of entry connects San Diego with Tijuana, Mexico. It is one of the busiest land crossings on the U.S.-Mexico border. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of California covers San Diego County and Imperial County, along roughly 140 miles of the border with Mexico. The federal government's stepped-up enforcement has left many Chinese immigrants who have not become U.S. citizens feeling anxious. Jenny is a Chinese immigrant who arrived in the United States nearly eight years ago. She passed her interview for an asylum-based green card last year and thought her status would finally be secure. But a new request for additional documents has brought more uncertainty. Under today's strict immigration policies, she feels anxious every day. She is now rushing to move her money back to China. She exchanges money through acquaintances. She gives them U.S. dollars, and they arrange for the equivalent in yuan to be transferred to her account in China, or to an account belonging to relatives or friends. Many Chinese immigrants like her feel like they have little choice but to use these informal currency exchanges, despite the substantial risks. Jenny has not decided to leave the United States. She worries that a sudden problem with her immigration status could force her to go. Moving her assets in advance gives her a fallback. She said, everyone's on edge. You never know when ICE might show up. Sending my money back to China means all those years of hard work will not go to waste. If I'm deported, at least I'll still have my hard-earned money. Years of hard work and legitimate earnings may look like a typical American dream, but their lives in the country began without legal status. They're among the hundreds of thousands of Chinese immigrants living illegally in the United States. According to a Reuters report in September, ICE made nearly 51,000 arrests in August 2026, setting a monthly record for the third consecutive month. Arrests of undocumented immigrants from Asian countries and territories totaled over 21,000. Indian nationals accounted for the largest share, at 29 percent, followed by Chinese nationals at 25 percent. Nearly 2,300 Chinese nationals were deported, the highest total among Asian countries. Reuters also cited a senior Trump administration official, who estimated that more than 100,000 Chinese nationals were living in the United States without legal status. More than 30,000 had final deportation orders, and more than 1,500 were in custody awaiting deportation. ICE enforcement has left 100,000 undocumented Chinese immigrants uncertain about their futures. No matter how long they've lived in the United States, how much they've earned, or how many friends they've made, they fear an ICE arrest could upend everything. Even a life that looks much like any American's can suddenly change. An ICE arrest does not necessarily mean deportation. Arrest, detention, and eventual deportation are three different stages in the U.S. immigration enforcement system. First, ICE identifies an undocumented immigrant. Officers check when the individual entered the country and review any deportation or criminal history. Then they decide whether to detain the individual. Those who qualify for expedited removal can be deported without a regular immigration court hearing. Such cases generally involve very serious crimes or repeated deportations. Most move on to the second stage. The Department of Homeland Security brings the case to immigration court, where a judge decides whether to order deportation. During the proceedings, immigrants can remain in the United States and work. ICE generally does not arrest them again. The third stage is the judge's decision, either ordering deportation or allowing the individual to stay. That may not be the end of the case. Anyone dissatisfied with the ruling can appeal within 30 days of receiving it, starting another round of legal proceedings. That lengthy process helps explain why many undocumented immigrants remain in the United States long after ICE identifies them. Reuters highlighted a contrast in its September report. ICE made nearly 51,000 arrests in August 2026, but deportations did not rise sharply at the same time. They remained at roughly 1,200 a day. One reason is that more of those arrested have neither criminal convictions nor final deportation orders. Some have pending asylum applications or other legal requests and cannot simply be deported immediately after arrest. Available seats on deportation flights and cooperation from receiving countries also affect the pace. Even after an arrest, undocumented immigrants may still be able to remain in the United States. But the uncertainty of possible deportation keeps immigrants like Jenny afraid. They worry about losing the lives and savings they've built over many years in the United States. Deportation itself does not mean the U.S. will freeze an immigrant's bank accounts or seize their earnings, but Jenny still worries. Once she leaves, returning could be difficult. The money in her U.S. bank accounts would still belong to her, but that does not guarantee uninterrupted access. After leaving the United States, account holders may still need to update their mailing address, verify their identity, change their phone number, or replace an expired bank card. Banks may also restrict overseas logins and transactions. Account agreements and compliance requirements vary by bank. If a bank cannot verify the account holder's identity, it may limit some transactions or take other steps under its rules and account agreement. Their concern is whether they can still log in, transfer money, and manage their assets from abroad. Unpaid taxes are another issue. Someone who worked in the United States for years without paying taxes or who evaded taxes may still have those debts to resolve. For some immigrants, America once meant opportunity. With hard work, they hoped to improve their lives little by little. Now, they no longer feel free from fear. Their lack of legal status leaves them vulnerable to enforcement. Their deepest insecurity is not knowing when the familiar lives they've built might suddenly slip beyond their control. Current immigration policies also pose serious consequences for people with criminal records and unofficial operatives working for the CCP. Chinese Americans and others with legal status who exploit policy loopholes to commit crimes are also facing enforcement. U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services, or USCIS, announced on October 19 that a federal grand jury had indicted Jingming Chen, age 31, of Quincy, Massachusetts. He is charged with conspiracy to commit marriage fraud and immigration document fraud. Court documents say Chen, a U.S. citizen, accepted bribes from a Chinese co-conspirator living in Aurora, Ohio. He fabricated evidence for immigration documents to support the false assertion that their marriage was genuine. Chen agreed to receive payments at each stage of the green card application process. He and his co-conspirator discussed inventing an online long-distance romance, including how they met and who introduced them. They also discussed signing a fabricated prenuptial agreement and opening joint accounts for banking, phone service, insurance, and discount store memberships. After filing a notice of intention of marriage in Quincy, Chen instructed his co-conspirator to buy a large fake diamond ring for the ceremony. After they got married, Chen directed a representative to file Form I-130 to establish their marital relationship and help the co-conspirator obtain a green card. The case is pending. The Cleveland Office of ICE Homeland Security Investigations and the Boston Office of USCIS Fraud Detection are investigating. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian M. McDonough is prosecuting the case. If convicted, Chen faces up to five years in prison. The federal government has also moved against Confucius Institutes, one of the CCP's major channels of influence in the United States. U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced on October 23rd that the Pentagon had designated Confucius Institutes a national security threat. I want to tell you about Confucius Institutes. These Chinese government-backed propaganda cultural programs had infiltrated our nation's universities in almost every state. He said the CCP-backed institutes had returned to American universities under new identities, establishing 80 new propaganda operations at 30 universities. Hegseth said the War Department had spent the past two months dismantling the organizations. On October 19, the department said it had completed preliminary research security audits at 30 U.S. universities, resulting in more than 80 terminations of related partnerships. In a video posted on social media, Hegseth described Confucius Institutes as CCP-backed cultural programs used for propaganda. He said they had infiltrated universities in nearly every state in the U.S. He said Congress banned them a few years ago, but these programs came back in new disguises. They tried to keep operating simply by changing their names. He said it turns out that 80 new propaganda cells across 30 universities had popped up using different names and different charters, but with the same mission, to steal intellectual property and to infiltrate the minds of American students. Hegseth said the War Department had placed these sleeper organizations on a list of entities, threatening U.S. national security. But the video did not give the list's formal name or identify each organization. He said, At the Department of War, within the last two months, we have systematically dismantled every single one of these organizations, using the leverage that we have here at the War Department. The department said on October 19 that all 30 universities had taken steps to address security risks from partnerships with foreign entities of concern. The measures primarily targeted organizations on the Section 1286 list under the National Defense Authorization Act, updated in July. The department required universities to assess whether those partnerships threatened sensitive or export-controlled research, end them if necessary, and submit their findings by August 31. Schools that fail to meet the required changes could jeopardize future federal research funding. Over the years, Congress has passed laws restricting defense funding for Chinese language instruction at Confucius Institutes, as well as funding for universities that host them. At the end of his video, Hegseth warned countries seeking to steal American inventions or turn young Americans against their own country to take notice. He also urged universities to stay alert and prevent those groups from returning to campus. Observers say major changes in U.S. immigration policy have sharply reduced opportunities to commit crimes without consequences and made legal status harder to obtain. They said the window is closing for undocumented Chinese immigrants and even Chinese Americans with legal status who seek to exploit loopholes in U.S. policies.