Rep. Andy Barr (R-KY) sits as a member of the House Foreign Affairs, Financial Services, and Select China Committees. This week he said that the surge in illegal Chinese immigrants should raise eyebrows. 

Barr told Maria Bartiromo on her Fox Business Channel show, Mornings with Maria, that the Biden administration's relationship with China is an example of weakness. Biden and other Democrats have not shown much interest in who is coming across the southern border, including the sudden influx of Chinese illegal aliens. 

The same number of illegal Chinese migrants have been apprehended in six months as the whole of 2023. The number has hit a new record with 24,200 arrested in the last six months. Most of the arrests have been in San Diego County, California.

A report by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) shows the increase in numbers. Chinese people are buying plane tickets to Mexico. Then they pay smugglers to take them to the areas where it is easiest to cross into California. They are taking advantage of holes in border barriers and a lack of border security enforcement from the Biden administration. 

Like most illegal immigrants, the Chinese are a part of catch and release. CBP arrests them - mostly single men - and keeps them in detention for 24 to 48 hours for processing. Then they are released into the country while their asylum claims move through the system. 

Security concerns were raised in January when CBP cut the number of questions its processors were required to ask of illegal border crossers. They went from 40 to 5 questions because CBP is overwhelmed by the number of Chinese people they are arresting.

A family of Chinese migrants who had just crossed over the border in the last few days told The Post they had no immediate problems forcing them to leave their homeland, unlike migrants from countries like Haiti and Venezuela where civil order has largely broken down.

They said they had spent around $75,000 to come to the US, money earned from their business back in China, after hearing success stories from relatives who had already made it across.

“We went from Thailand and Turkey and we followed a route shared on social media,” they said.

Another group of Chinese migrants waiting for Border Patrol in Campo, a remote stretch of the Mountain Empire area of southeastern San Diego County, told The Post their journey had taken many weeks from China and they were ultimately headed for New York.

They aren't coming out of economic distress. They pay a lot of money to fly to Mexico and then to the human smugglers to get here. Some allegedly come because of experiencing political oppression by the Chinese government. Some are political dissidents.

The Chinese are picked up by Border Patrol agents. They are escorted across the mountain range, taken into custody, and evaluated to determine a genuine asylum claim. 

But wait, there is more. An additional 17,700 Chinese people have been legally admitted into the United States by using the CBP One mobile app. They are legally admitted after making arrangements on the app. 

Immigration attorney Erika Pinheiro said the Chinese illegals are not poor. 

“We have this understanding of asylum seekers as poor and [that] they are only coming to America for economic opportunities, but the people that I’m meeting [at the San Diego] border tend to be at least middle class, if not upper-middle class.”

So, are they just coming for a better life in a freer society? How did they get out of China? We know that the Chinese people are under the thumb of the Chinese government. Entry and exit from China are heavily monitored. 

Shouldn't there be questions about the influx of the military service age of many of the Chinese illegal aliens? They arrive here unable to speak English and they do not know where they want to go. 

They are taken to San Diego by bus when they are released from Border Patrol custody. A group of Chinese men operate an informal taxi service for other Chinese. They want to help the illegal Chinese aliens. They say that they can put the illegal aliens at ease. 

“The Chinese man who just got off the bus had his phone, wallet and ID stolen in Mexico. I will arrange accommodations for him tonight and treat him to a meal. I will also help him contact his family,” he said speaking through a translation app.

China unleashed the COVID-19 pandemic on the United States. It works through Mexico to kill Americans with fentanyl coming over the open southern border. This sudden influx of Chinese illegal immigrants now should be alarming to those who are supposed to watch the situation. Why is this happening now? Is it as simple as thinking Donald Trump will win the November election and immediately shut down the border when he returns to the White House? Let's hope officials figure it out before something nefarious happens.