The United States returned a group of migrants to China on its first major deportation flight since 2018 and said on Tuesday it was working with Chinese authorities to arrange additional flights.
The deportation took place over the weekend in coordination with Chinese authorities, according to the Department of Homeland Security. The department did not say how many migrants were on the flight, but the Associated Press and the Wall Street Journal reported that 116 people were deported.
U.S. and Chinese authorities are working together to arrange additional evacuation flights, the statement said.
The announcement comes amid a fierce debate over immigration and border policy ahead of the U.S. presidential election in November. Since last year, an increasing number of Chinese migrants have been entering the United States at the southern border, fleeing bleak economic prospects and political repression.
Many follow a route made popular on social media: through the dangerous Darien Valley on the Panama-Colombia border, the only land route migrants can take north from South America to the U.S. Once at the southern border, they surrender to U.S. border patrol officials and apply for asylum, citing a credible fear they may be deported to China.
The U.S. government announced on Monday that it had signed an agreement with Panama aimed at stemming the flow of migrants through the Darien Valley. The U.S. will provide funding and training for a new fugitive removal program, the State Department said.
More than 24,000 Chinese migrants were temporarily detained at the U.S. southern border in fiscal year 2023, more than in the previous decade combined, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
According to Panamanian immigration officials, migrants from China were the fourth largest group of immigrants to the United States last year, behind Venezuelans, Ecuadorians and Haitians.
The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
