Chinese Illegal Immigrant Arrested After Entering Marine Corps Base and Refusing to Leave

A sign at the entrance to the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in August 2021. Google Maps/Screenshot via The Epoch Times

A Chinese national confirmed to be an illegal immigrant was arrested last week after sneaking onto a military base in California and ignoring orders to leave, according to an official from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

CBP’s El Centro Sector Chief Patrol Agent Gregory Bovino said in a March 29 post on social media platform X that agents were called out to a Marine Corps base about a Chinese national who entered the facility without authorization and failed to respond to orders to leave.

“Subject was confirmed to be in the country illegally,” Mr. Bovino wrote, noting that his purpose in entering the base remains under investigation.

U.S. Marine Corps didn’t respond by press time to The Epoch Times’ requests for more details on the incident.

However, The Epoch Times has learned on background from CBP sources that the Chinese national tried to enter the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, California, without authorization. Border Patrol agents were called to the scene and took the individual into custody, transporting him to a nearby station for further processing.

The facility, also known as Twentynine Palms, is the largest U.S. Marine Corps base in the country.

The latest breach comes amid numerous instances of Chinese nationals infiltrating U.S. military bases over the past several years.

For instance, two Chinese nationals were arrested for illegally entering and taking photos at a U.S. Navy base in Florida in 2020, and a recent report by The Wall Street Journal estimates that there have been more than 100 similar incidents over the past few years.

The head of the Border Patrol union recently warned about a sharp rise in the number of military-aged Chinese men crossing the U.S.–Mexico border illegally, which dovetails with CBP data.

Rise in Chinese Military-Aged Men Crossing US–Mexico Border

Amid an illegal immigration crisis of historic proportions, there’s been an exceptionally high increase in the number of Chinese nationals—in particular military-aged men—who have unlawfully crossed the U.S.–Mexico border.

CBP data show that starting in February 2023, the number of single Chinese adults encountered by Border Patrol agents nationwide started to rise.

In February 2024, Border Patrol agents encountered 5,455 single Chinese adults who had entered the country illegally, more than twice the number of any other February on record.

China is designated a “country of particular concern” by the U.S. State Department, while the FBI says that economic espionage and counterintelligence efforts emanating from China’s communist regime are a “grave threat” to America’s economic security.

Some analysts have said that deteriorating economic conditions in China, along with human rights abuses and policies such as strict COVID-19 lockdowns, are likely driving the increase.

However, some border patrol officials have warned that the doubling of Chinese illegal immigrants entering the United States poses a national security risk because, among those simply seeking a better life, there may be those with links to the Chinese military.

Brandon Judd, head of the Border Patrol union, recently warned about a sharp rise in the number of military-aged Chinese men crossing the southern border illegally, saying he believes some of them may be spies.

“At best, they’re here for a better life,” Mr. Judd said in a mid-February interview on the “Just the News, No Noise” TV program. “At worst, they’re here to be part of the Chinese government to infiltrate our own country.”

U.S. Border Patrol Chief Jason Owens revealed at the end of February that so far this fiscal year, the San Diego sector had seen more than 20,000 apprehensions of Chinese nationals, more than five times the number in the comparable period last year.

National Border Patrol Council President Brandon Judd at a border meeting in Del Rio, Texas, on July 18, 2021. Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times

‘China’s Shock Troops’

At the beginning of the current fiscal year, Chinese people were the fourth-highest nationality crossing the Darién Gap between Colombia and Panama and heading north toward the United States, after Venezuelans, Ecuadorians, and Haitians, according to The Associated Press.

Gordon Chang, a senior fellow at the Gatestone Institute and author of “The Coming Collapse of China,” wrote in a recent op-ed in The Epoch Times that of the Chinese migrants making the dangerous trek north from points in Central and South America, “almost all are desperate, seeking a better life for themselves and their children.”

“Some, however, are coming to commit acts of sabotage,” he said.

Mr. Chang explained that many Chinese nationals fly to Ecuador, which allows them to enter visa-free. Then, they travel to the southern edge of the Darién Gap, a 66-mile stretch of jungle that separates Colombia and Panama, typically crossing on foot. Once they get to the north side, they continue their journey to the United States, often by bus, according to the China expert.

“Some migrants are almost certainly members of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA),” Mr. Chang wrote.

“These military-linked migrants, despite their affiliations, have been released into America.”

Under the Biden administration’s catch-and-release program, illegal immigrants are released into U.S. communities to await asylum hearings.

Migrants walk through the jungle near Bajo Chiquito village, the first border control of the Darién Province in Panama, on Sept. 22, 2023. Luis Acosta/AFP via Getty Images

It’s estimated that more than 10 million illegal immigrants have crossed the border since President Joe Biden took office.

Republicans have blamed President Biden’s policies for fueling the border crisis while calling for measures such as ending the Biden administration’s contentious “catch-and-release” policy, expanding expedited removals, renewing border wall construction, and reinstating the Trump-era “Remain in Mexico” policy.

*This article has been updated with information received from CBP.