Chinese migrants flee China’s Zero-COVID policy and many seek asylum in the U.S.
December 16, 2022 | FEIXU CHEN
Lee and his wife packed their bags and crossed the border under the cover of the night. Their destination was across the Pacific Ocean, more than 7,000 miles away in San Diego, California. While their son was sound asleep, Lee told him his father would have to work far away but would return and take his entire family over to live there one day.
Lee used to own a restaurant in Anhui Province in China. But following the COVID-19 outbreak, he couldn’t make a profit due to the constant lockdowns.
“I’ve been through extortion. I’ve been through coups. I’ve had a gun pointed at my head and experienced discrimination against Asians along the way,” said Lee, an asylum seeker who requested that his first name not be published, “And now, I’ve finally made it.”
China’s economic growth was nearly extinguished in 2022 by sequestration measures to curb the spread of COVID-19 — what officials call the “Zero-COVID policy.” The zero-COVID policy is a strategy that aims to eliminate local transmission of COVID-19. In some cities, most stores and restaurants have shut down, some possibly permanently. Unemployment among young people climbed dramatically.
The COVID-19 outbreak in early 2020 brought the entire catering industry to paralysis. Nearly three years later, the crisis is ongoing. The latest data from the National Bureau of Statistics of China shows that from January to April 2022, the national restaurant revenue was 1,326.2 billion Yuan ($185.44 billion), down 5.1% year-over-year. (As of Nov. 23, $1 USD was 7.14 Chinese Yuan.) Especially in April 2022, when Shanghai was on lockdown, the national restaurant revenue was down 22.7% year-over-year, according to China Newsweek.
“The (Chinese) government does not care about our business,” Lee said with a sigh, “We need to survive.”
“We need to survive.”
Chinese have been upset with China’s strict COVID-19 measures, and many are seeking ways out. It’s why Chinese migrants are among those coming through the U.S. border from Mexico. There have been numerous protests in mainland China to stop the Zero-COVID policy, and these peaceful demonstrators have been suppressed by the government. Chinese students abroad have also begun to demonstrate solidarity with their compatriots at home on a large scale.
Baidu, China’s biggest search engine, released the “2021 China Emigrant Industry Data Report,” which mentions that the long-term demand for emigration has not decreased despite the disruptions from the epidemic towards people’s plans to study abroad, work overseas and settle overseas. The data shows that the average daily search volume of the emigration service industry is as high as 180,000 times.
Lee and his wife are among the ones who fled the country. Most Chinese people hope to immigrate to the United States. Mostly those who come from upper-middle-class families and can afford to immigrate legally through education, work or investment. Lee and his wife are among the ones who fled the country. Although Lee, who ran a restaurant in an economically disadvantaged area of China, said he had neither the money nor the skills to get a work sponsor or other type of visa to enter the United States.
In August, the Biden administration did away with the Trump-era “remain in Mexico” policy, which required asylum-seekers to apply in Mexico.
Following that change, more Chinese and other foreigners who wanted to be on U.S. soil, flew into cities like Quito, Ecuador. Because there are no roads between the border of Colombia and Panama, the only way to get to the Mexican border is through the rainforest, then north through Ecuador, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, and finally through Mexico to the U.S. border. This journey of nearly 3,000 miles has been described as dangerous and challenging. As a result, people refer to these undocumented immigrants as “tightrope walkers.”
A journey that could kill you at any time
Lee and his wife fled from the Yunnan-Myanmar border into Myanmar.
“We were also doing business in Yunnan, and more than 90% of the Chinese people there did not obtain any immigration documents because at that time, it was not necessary to have any of these documents. It only took you 50 Yuan ($7 US) to cross the border,” Lee said in Mandarin. “Then suddenly, when the epidemic broke out, the Chinese government closed the border and urged the remaining Chinese nationals in Myanmar to go back. They even gave every person the crime of illegal border crossing, resulting in many people not wanting to return to China.”
That’s when Lee decided to go halfway across the world, fleeing to the United States. He carried the equivalent of $24,000 when leaving China. During his trip, Lee spent nearly all the money bribing local law enforcement.
Unrest, riots and corruption are the three words Lee uses to describe the countries of Southeast Asia. When Lee arrived in Sri Lanka, the country was experiencing the most significant economic crisis and riots in its history. Hundreds of demonstrators surrounded the presidential palace, repeatedly shouting at the security forces and setting fire to military buses.
“The border police of Sri Lanka robbed us and then held (us) at gunpoint for ransom,” Lee said. “After we arrived at the hotel in Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, the capital of Sri Lanka. We were blocked by the thugs inside the hotel. They broke the glass and poured gasoline into the hotel, and we almost died inside.”
After surviving the turmoil in Sri Lanka, Lee and his wife arrived in Quito, Ecuador, by plane. They then traveled up north to Pasto, Colombia. Most of their route was traveled on the local smugglers’ bus, bumping between the various immigration checkpoints. To bypass the Darién Gap on the Colombian-Panamanian border, they had to take a boat from Necocli, Colombia, to Arcandi, Panama.
Video provided by Lee.
Lee and his wife arrived at their final destination Tapachula, Mexico, before entering the US.
“The Mexican Tapachula Immigration Prisons are more discriminatory against Asians. One part deals with refugees from South America, and the other specializes in Chinese or Asian refugees. They are very unfriendly to us,” said Lee, “They (border police) will imply that you need to pay them off.”
After 90 days, Lee and his wife arrived at the San Diego border with only $2,000 left.
Asylum-seekers’ dilemma
After arriving at the U.S. border in San Diego, Lee reached out to the border police and informed them of his intention to apply for political asylum. As a result, after two days in a detention center, Lee and his wife were released. They then moved to Los Angeles. While there, Lee contacted a local Chinese-American attorney specializing in political asylum cases and asked him for legal assistance, saying that the Chinese government’s strict lockdown and one-child policy had persecuted him.
Between 2012 and 2021, the number of asylum seekers from China increased from 15,362 to 118,476 per year, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Since Chinese President Xi Jinping came to power in late 2012, 732,008 Chinese citizens have applied for asylum in other countries. About 70% of them sought asylum in the United States. Some of the well-known reasons used by the Chinese for filing applications include, but are not limited to, the one-child policy, religion and eviction.
Although the number of Chinese people seeking asylum in the U.S. has grown exponentially in recent years, Lee does not feel concerned that this will affect his case approval.
“You cannot falsify the truth, nor verify lies,” he said. “The first thing that comes to my mind is to settle down first. While you are here, you will meet all kinds of people and you have to differentiate. For example, in Los Angeles, I can say that 60% of the Chinese people who participated in the demonstration against the Chinese Communist Party were there for asylum.”
New Life Starts Here
After settling into a rented apartment in Los Angeles, Lee and his wife began looking for work. “I wanted to ensure I could stay alive and not cause trouble for the U.S. government, and I didn’t want to get free food because I can earn my living.”
Under U.S. law, asylum-seekers can’t work while applying for asylum, but Lee said working while applying for asylum is a gray area and he doesn’t believe authorities will interfere. The first job Lee found was home construction, after which he started driving deliveries for Doordash. He found a loophole to get around having to register an Employment Authorization Document. He rented his Doordash delivery account from someone else.
Lee works 12 hours daily, earning $100-$180 per day, hopes it will increase during the holidays. Lee’s wife works in a local hotel. “All we have to do now is survive, and when asylum is granted, we’ll bring our kid over to live with us.”
“Some people may think that America is a paradise, right? Of course, I met many people on my way here who were very outspoken and said they came to America to enjoy the benefits,” Lee said. “Simply put, my expectations are not very high because I am more realistic. No matter where I go, I must survive on my own merits.”
Reflecting on his experiences from April until now, Lee sighed long and said, “The most incredible feeling was after we climbed over the borderline just in the early morning. We sat down, my wife leaned on me, and we watched the sunrise together quietly. Because we had walked for a long time (before we reached the border) and were both covered in dust, I told my wife that it felt like we had finished a game and reached the final point. We will start a new life here now.”
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