The Chinese version of TikTok, Douyin, helps Chinese immigrants with manuals and video tutorials to enter the United States illegally. This was the conclusion from the latest report from "60 Minutes," a CBS program, which focused its latest investigation on Chinese migrants, the fastest-growing nationality among illegal immigrants on the southern border.
According to the investigation by CBS journalists, in four days of observation of various crossing points on the southern border, several Chinese citizens were found among the more than 600 immigrants they encountered. Many of the Chinese citizens who agreed to be questioned told the camera that they learned about crossing the border on TikTok.
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
As a result of this, the CBS team reviewed the social network's posts to find out more about this information that is circulating in China and that provides instructions for immigrants to enter the country illegally. Among the resources they found was a tutorial for hiring a human trafficking network to assist Chinese citizens in their goal of crossing the border.
Chinese migrants are the fastest growing group
More and more Chinese citizens are entering the United States illegally. Illegal entries have increased more for this group than any other in the past three years. According to Border Patrol data, the number of encounters with Chinese citizens on the country's southern border rose from 450 in 2021 to more than 24,300 in 2023.
These Chinese citizens come from places even more remote than Latin American immigrants. On many occasions, they make trips by plane or by other means to Turkey or an African country, to take a flight to Brazil or another Latin American country. Once there, they begin the journey on foot or by car to reach the border with the United States.
The distance and the very different culture they face when traveling through Central America force them to seek help on their own to reach their destination. This is why tutorials and guides have begun to proliferate on the most popular social network in China.
