One border security expert said the massive number of Chinese illegal immigrants who crossed the United States border during the Biden administration poses a “national security concern.”

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deported 122 illegal immigrants to China June 3, many of whom were convicted of murder, drug trafficking, rape and human smuggling. Officials said the individuals were taken to China on a “special high risk charter flight.”

The Department of Justice on Tuesday charged seven Chinese nationals after they allegedly operated a multimillion- dollar marijuana trafficking ring. According to the Justice Department, the suspects smuggled illegal immigrants through the U.S.-Mexico border to work in marijuana grow houses.

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“This case pulls back the curtain on a sprawling criminal enterprise that exploited our immigration system and our communities for personal gain,” said U.S. Attorney Leah Foley. 

“These defendants allegedly turned quiet homes across the Northeast into hubs for a criminal enterprise, building a multimillion-dollar black market operation off the backs of an illegal workforce and using our neighborhoods as cover. That ends today.”

In fiscal year 2024 alone, according to the House Committee on Homeland Security, over 24,376 Chinese nationals were encountered and 24,214 were apprehended. In March 2024 alone, border encounters of Chinese nationals increased over 8,000% when compared to March 2021. The report was released in April 2024.

Lora Ries, director of the Heritage Foundation’s Border Security and Immigration Center and former Department of Homeland Security acting deputy chief of staff, told Fox News Digital in an interview that the sharp increase in Chinese nationals crossing the southern border is “absolutely” a national security concern.

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“The numbers rose rapidly during the Biden administration. I mean, pre-Biden, Customs and Border Protection would see about 1,000 Chinese nationals a month nationwide, whether that was at the ports of entry or between ports of entry. And, during Biden’s four years, that rose rapidly to 2,000, up to 7,000 a month. It even hit over 8,000 one month in December of 2023. And most of these were between the ports of entry,” Ries said. 

Ries fears the Chinese Communist Party was using the southern border as a “tactic” against the U.S. during former President Biden’s administration.

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“Given the many tactics that the Chinese Communist Party uses against the U.S. — whether that is sending fentanyl precursor ingredients to Mexico to be smuggled into the U.S., killing hundreds of thousands of Americans, COVID-19 from Wuhan, spy balloons, buying farmland near military bases — we have to assume that the CCP took advantage of the open border during Biden’s years and sent many Chinese nationals with mal-intent,” Ries said.