Chinese Whispers: what's behind the Chinese migrant surge at the Darien Gap?
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The Spectator
4.4 • 785 Ratings
🗓️ 25 November 2024
⏱️ 23 minutes
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Summary
These are usually migrants from Venezuela, or Colombia or Panama. But in recent years, a new group of people have appeared at the border, having paid people smugglers and hacked through the jungle. They often bring young children, clutch on to smartphones with which they check their routes, and watch social media videos that set out, step by step, the journey they are embarking on.
These are the Chinese, which in the last two years have been the fastest growing group of migrants being encountered at America’s southern border – over 37,000 last year, up from under 4,000 the year before. This year, there have already been over 21,000.
What brings them, and how unusual is this method of emigration when it comes to people from China?
On this podcast are Professor Meredith Oyen, an expert on US-China migration, and Amy Hawkins, senior China correspondent at the Guardian, who has come across a similar phenomenon on Europe’s borders.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Get a free bottle of Johnny Walker Black Label Whiskey when you subscribe to The Spectator in a Black Friday sale. |
| 0:06.1 | Go to spectator.com.uk forward slash Friday. |
| 0:18.6 | Hello and welcome to Chinese Whispers with me, Cindy Yu. |
| 0:21.6 | Every episode, I'll be talking to journalists, experts and long-time China watchers about the latest in Chinese politics, society and more. |
| 0:29.8 | There'll be a smattering of history to catch you up on the background knowledge and some context as well. |
| 0:34.5 | How do the Chinese see these issues? |
| 0:38.3 | Darien Gap is a 60-mile stretch of jungle that hundreds of thousands of migrants from all over South America |
| 0:43.5 | trek through in order to reach the US-Mexico border. From there, they enter America illegally |
| 0:49.4 | in search of better lives. These are usually migrants from Venezuela or Colombia or Panama, but in recent |
| 0:55.4 | years a new group of people have appeared at the border, having paid people smugglers and hacked |
| 1:00.1 | through the jungle themselves. They often bring young children, clutch onto smartphones with which they |
| 1:04.9 | check their routes, and check social media videos that are set out step by step the journey |
| 1:09.4 | they are embarking on. These are the |
| 1:11.9 | Chinese, which in the last two years have been the fastest growing group of migrants being |
| 1:15.8 | encountered at America's southern border, over 37,000 last year, up from just under 4,000 the year |
| 1:21.9 | before. This year, they have already been 21,000. What brings them, and how unusual is this method of immigration when it comes to people from China? |
| 1:30.2 | I'm joined today by Professor Meredith Oyen, an expert on US China migration, and Amy Hawkins, |
| 1:36.0 | senior China correspondent at The Guardian, who has come across a similar phenomenon on Europe's borders. |
| 1:41.5 | Meredith and Amy, welcome to Chinese whispers. |
| 1:44.0 | Now, Meredith, let's start with |
| 1:45.2 | the diary and gap. Tell us about this new group of migrants. Starting in really late 2022 and |
| 1:51.0 | early 2023, there was a noticeably significant rise in the number of Chinese migrants who've |
... |
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