China is likely using the chaos at the southern border to send military personnel into the United States, Rep. Mark Green (R., Tenn.) announced Wednesday.
The House Homeland Security Committee chairman in a press conference said that many of the Chinese nationals apprehended at the border have "known ties to the PLA." Green claims to have obtained this information from a border patrol sector chief, and says he expects a classified briefing on the matter "in the very near future."
Green went on to say that the Chinese nationals had been released into the United States after crossing the border, without any verification of identity. "We have no idea who these people are, and it’s very likely, using Russia’s template of sending military personnel into Ukraine, China is doing the same into the United States," he continued.
Border Patrol has seen a surge of migrants from China attempting to cross into the United States. Since January, they have encountered nearly 8,000 Chinese nationals at the southern border, already more than quadruple the number from fiscal year 2022, according to Customs and Border Protection data.
In fiscal year 2023, Border Patrol has also apprehended 98 people on the FBI’s terror watch list, including 16 in the month of February alone.