According to data from the US Customs and Border Protection, the number of encounters the agency has had with Chinese nationals at the Southwest land border has risen over 54 times, going from 450 in 2021 to 24,314 in 2023.
Lokman Vural Elibol/Anadolu via Getty Images
Chinese migrants hoping to get into the US are turning to an unlikely guide — the Chinese version of Tiktok.Migrants told 60 Minutes they planned their journey using Douyin.There has been a surge in the number of Chinese migrants crossing the US border in recent years.
Some Chinese migrants attempting to cross the US southern border are getting a little help from Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, according to a report from CBS’ “60 Minutes.”
Over four days, CBS journalists observed nearly 600 migrants, some of whom were Chinese, crossing the border through a gap at the end of a border fence near San Diego.
Chinese migrants who spoke to 60 Minutes said they learned about the gap via the video application Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok.
60 Minutes said it had reviewed several Douyin posts, which gave detailed instructions on how migrants could hire smugglers to get to the border.
And the journey is no walk in the park either.
Chinese migrants hoping to start a new life in the US have to trek through multiple countries before they arrive stateside. Some have had to crisscross through Turkey, Ecuador, Colombia, Panama and then Mexico, per CNN.
There has been a surge in the number of Chinese migrants entering the US through its borders.
According to data from the US Customs and Border Protection, the number of encounters the agency has had with Chinese nationals at the Southwest land border has increased more than 50-fold, from 450 people in 2021 to 24,314 in 2023.
Chinese social media platforms have been a boon for migrants hoping to enter the US.
In April, Reuters interviewed more than two dozen Chinese migrants entering the US via southeastern Texas. All the migrants that Reuters spoke to said that social media had helped them to plan their journey.
It’s not just China. Content creators from Venezuela and India have been producing similar videos as well.
“Migration sells. My public is a public that wants a dream,” Venezuelan Manuel Monterrosa, 35, told The New York Times in a story published in December.
Representatives for the US Customs and Border Protection did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider sent outside regular business hours.