“Ni Hao” at the Southern Border: Crafting the U.S. Policy Response to the Post-Pandemic Cohort of Chinese Migrants

Undocumented migrants feature prominently in modern American politics. One group of migrants, however, has drawn relatively little attention—those from the People’s Republic of China. Leading up to the 2024 election, Chinese migrants were the fastest growing group of migrants entering from the U.S.-Mexico border. This Article proposes that U.S. policymakers take a three-prong approach to responding to Chinese migrants who have entered the country in recent years or who may enter in the future.

First, use asylum law as an instrument of U.S. foreign policy and grant asylum to Chinese migrants in numbers appropriate to advance America’s national interest in its strategic competition with China. Second, balance legitimate national security concerns, such as the threat of espionage, against the risk of inflaming anti-Chinese, anti-East Asian racism. Third, draw negative lessons from the Chinese Exclusion Act to avoid repeating the same modes of discrimination from the past.