Delegate James Moylan (R-Guam) is raising the alarm about the number of Chinese nationals illegally entering the U.S. island territory of Guam, warning that these crossings could undermine a key component of U.S. security in the Indo-Pacific region.
Speaking with NTD’s “Capitol Report” on April 16, Guam’s nonvoting congressional delegate said he’s doubtful that these Chinese nationals are arriving on the island territory in a simple search for better economic opportunities. He said that instead, he believes that these migrants are another manifestation of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) strategic maneuvering in the western Pacific.
Guam already hosts the Naval Base and Andersen Air Force Base. The U.S. military is continuing to build up its presence on the island; the Marine Corps activated Marine Corps Base Camp Blaz in Dededo in January 2023.
Guam has become the center for the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM), according to Mr. Moylan. He said China also views the island territory as a key strategic target, noting that the Chinese military has developed missiles capable of reaching the island from the Chinese mainland.
“The Communist Chinese party has made it known that Guam is a target,” he said. “If we’re having illegal Chinese migrants coming to Guam, that’s a great concern for mine. And this needs to be stopped.”
In January, Guam Customs and Quarantine Agency spokeswoman Alana Chargualaf-Afaisen told Stars & Stripes that the agency has recorded 118 unlawful or attempted unlawful entries by Chinese citizens to the island territory since 2022. That includes 85 cases in 2022, 27 in 2023, and six so far this year, she said.
“We don’t know who they don’t find,” Mr. Moylan said. “They’re landing on our shores through small boats, small boats coming on in, and some are tracked, and some are missing.”
Mr. Moylan was one of several elected members of Congress who raised concerns about Chinese nationals crossing into Guam and the neighboring Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) in a November 2023 letter to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. The letter calls on Mr. Mayorkas and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to review visa policies involving CNMI and Guam to deter potential espionage risks.
“If we want to make Guam the first line of defense, we need to stop these illegal Chinese migrants coming into Guam,” Mr. Moylan told NTD on April 16.
The November 2023 letter to Mr. Mayorkas notes one potential vulnerability enabling Chinese nationals to get to Guam: a U.S. visa parole program, implemented in October 2019, that allows Chinese nationals to visit CNMI for up to 14 days without a visa. The letter states that Chinese citizens were found to have traveled through the CNMI island of Saipan and then used “messaging apps to coordinate illegal jobs and illegal boat rides to Guam.”
The letter to Mr. Mayorkas notes that CNMI is the only U.S. territory that allows entry for Chinese nationals without a visa. The signatories urged the DHS secretary to change this policy and apply visa requirements equally across territories.
“I’m not saying anything against our CNMI brothers or sisters on how they wish to keep their visas going,” Mr. Moylan said.
“It’s just a matter [of] how we’re vetting that. And if it’s not the Communist Chinese Party, then it’s going to be somebody else that’s going to come in because we have so many gaps in the security of Guam, and that needs to be closed up.”
He said that as a nonvoting member of Congress, his focus has been on encouraging more funding for INDOPACOM, including a 360-degree missile defense system for Guam. He’s also seeking more funding to monitor Guam’s maritime borders and detect and prevent illegal entries.
