Reality Check: U.S. Sees Increase of Illegal Chinese Immigrants
I guess this would be pretty good evidence that a lot of those “China is poised to rule the world” articles are a bit premature. I still suspect that most of those pieces are written by investment bankers and brokers as a way to pump up business for their China funds, but there are other folks out there who probably also buy into the China-as-imminent-world-power argument.
The number of Chinese immigrants arrested while illegally crossing the border into Arizona through the busiest smuggling corridor in the United States increased tenfold in the last fiscal year, according to the United States Border Patrol in Tucson.
In fiscal 2009, 332 Chinese immigrants were caught in the Border Patrol’s Tucson sector, up from 30 the previous year, Border Patrol figures showed. And in what could be a sign of a record-breaking pace for this year, agents in the Border Patrol’s Tucson sector arrested 281 Chinese immigrants from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31, the first quarter of the current fiscal year.
[ . . . ]
[M]ost of those immigrants [ . . . ] were from Fujian Province, in southeast China, and had traveled across the globe to enter the United States because of a lack of education and employment opportunities back home.
Basic point: even a place like the U.S., which is politically FUBAR, on very shaky economic ground, and has much fewer employment opportunities than it did a few years ago, is still a much better place to be for some folks whose alternative is being a dirt-poor peasant. Pardon my bluntness. And remember that here in China, there are about 4.37 gazillion (that’s an estimate) of those poor folks.
There is a reason, you know, why Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao keep harping on increased benefits for rural/poor people. It’s not just about rebalancing the economy towards domestic demand. There is an actual need for health care, education, and the basics.
It’s interesting that at the same time that the U.S. is attracting poor individuals from China and other countries, you have the phenomenon of well educated PRC nationals returning to their home country because of opportunities here. These two things are not mutually exclusive, although it sounds kind of bad for the U.S. in the long run.
Some of those immigrants may be temporary migrants. They may have made the decision to go to the US to work for a couple of years. Being a busyboy in Chinatown can make a decent income for some. If you drive to Fuzhou from the Changle airport, you see many 5 story “countryside mansions” that are largely empty. Many are paid for from remittances from Chinese restaurants in America.
But it is an interesting consideration. Many, if not all Chinese immigrants in American will consider naturalization in America. However, I don’t know very many foreigners in China who would consider naturalization here.
Here’s a good thought experiment. How many years will it take before, when reporting on GDP figures, the line item referring to remittances from American guest workers in China will be mentioned? And I’m not talking about well-paid expat types working in Beijing and Shanghai! Answer, of course, is that it will be LONG time before we see something like that.
Stan, China being having super-power status and still having some dirt poor people are not mutually exclusive. In fact, I would argue that for it to acquire and maintain superpowers status, having dirt poor laborers would be a net benefit.
Yes, power and influence is a different thing entirely. I was specifically referring to all those recent articles about China’s economy. I’m of the opinion that things like per capita GDP and substantial elimination of poverty are good indicia of a “superpower” economy.
If China wants to rule the world, it must have people on location to govern. Doesn’t sending more Chinese into the US making it much more convenient ? So it is not only rumored, it is planned.
Heh. Sounds like the plot to the Red Dawn remake.
I think your average Fujian peasant type might actually govern better than the current jokers in residence at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue.