It was something CNN was talking about a few months ago. Naturally people emigrate and immigrate all the time, but the way Chinese people were getting to America was a central part of the story. Naturally you never get closure in these stories.
I might be high and this may have been said before. But I think migration/immigrant stories are a form of soft propaganda that says "See greedy American? Everyone else is fighting to come here so stop complaining because we have it good".
Them focusing on Chinese immigrants fit the current sinophobic narrative.
Reportedly, due to COVID era downturn, difficulty receiving a US visa, and a bunch of middle- to upper-middle class Chinese who believe they won't be as rich in the future. It's partially true, just overexaggerated due to a boost in anti-Asian, mostly sinophobic from trade war and COVID panic, sentiment along with stronger anti-immigrant policy.
There are about 49,000 illegal immigrants from China, which is a country of about 1.5 billion people. Basically a statistical sneeze. It would not surprise me if every single one of them is legitimate economic migrant (even if their story is probably exaggerated or based on misconceptions).
There are a lot of people in every countey who think America is the good life because they don't understand how expensive it is to live here, or are just planning to work in the U.S. and send money back home and move back in 5-10 years.
My co-worker was joking that you could meet hot asian women at the southern border. I guess this is what that was about.
My FOX-brained dad was ranting about this. It was weird seeing someone say that shit with a straight face.
and you know the worst part of it all? Shit like this culminates in some [CW: violence]
spoiler
lone-wolf terrorist killing American-born, Trump-loving, ethnically Korean or Japanese people, all because of this idea - no, this delusion - of illegal immigrants stealing jobs and China infiltrating the US.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/08/americas/china-us-migrants-illegal-crossings-intl-hnk-dst/index.html
Here is what CNN is saying.
“We are Christians,” one neatly dressed middle-aged man said simply when asked what had led him there – a bare encampment thousands of miles from home.
There's no reading these peope except as opportunists who drank the kool aid.
