Unprecedented Number of Chinese Nationals Crossing US Border Coincides With ‘Run’ Social Media Trend in China
The lockdown of Shanghai, China’s largest city, in March 2022 prompted the emergence of “润,” pronounced run, as Chinese try to emigrate. In January, U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced a tenfold increase in the number of Chinese people crossing the southern border, raising national security concerns.
In January alone, 1,084 Chinese nationals were apprehended at the southern U.S. border, compared with 89 in January 2022, representing a 1,118 percent increase, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
In addition, Border Patrol agents at the U.S. southern border arrested 2,999 Chinese nationals in the four-month period from October 2022 to January 2023, a 719 percent increase from 366 in the same period in 2022, and more than the 2,626 arrested in fiscal years 2021 and 2022 combined….