China is slowing its efforts to repatriate Chinese nationals who are in the US illegally, a senior Trump administration official told Reuters, warning that Washington was prepared to increase travel restrictions on the country unless Beijing changed course.
The new US threat to China comes just days before President Donald Trump is scheduled to visit Beijing on May 14-15, where he is expected to raise the issue of deportations, among other issues, during a meeting with his counterpart Xi Jinping.
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The trip is important for Trump, who hopes to win trade concessions from Beijing that he can present to voters ahead of November’s midterm elections, which polls suggest could result in losses for the president’s Republican Party.
Since returning to the White House early last year, Trump has threatened tariffs and sanctions against many countries for not accepting deportees, a central pillar of his campaign for the White House and tough immigration policies.
For years, China has resisted US requests to take back tens of thousands of its citizens who have overstayed or entered the country illegally.
When Trump took office, China indicated it was willing to repatriate “confirmed Chinese nationals” after verification. But Beijing said it takes time.
After accepting about 3,000 deportees via charter and commercial flights in early 2025, China has scaled back cooperation in the past six months, a senior US official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to speak openly about the administration’s plans.
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China “refuses to fully cooperate with the United States in accepting its citizens back,” the official said, calling it a violation of China’s international obligations and responsibilities to its people.
The official said that if China does not increase cooperation on deportations, the United States will consider increasing the cash bonds accompanying visa applications, as well as denying more visas and blocking more entries at the border.
“The Chinese government’s inaction will jeopardize the future travel of law-abiding Chinese citizens,” the official said.
The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Beijing has previously said it opposes illegal migration, calling it “an international issue that requires cooperation between countries”.
Tens of thousands await removal
Trump has pursued tough immigration policies, including aggressive deportations, revoking visas and green cards, and scrutinizing the social media posts and past speech of immigrants.
During the Biden administration, the number of Chinese nationals crossing the US southern border illegally increased from negligible numbers to tens of thousands as China’s economy faced headwinds and restrictions in the COVID era made it more difficult to obtain US visas.
There are now more than 100,000 undocumented Chinese nationals in the US, the official said. More than 30,000 have final deportation orders, and of those, authorities have detained more than 1,500 awaiting deportation. Most of the latter category had committed other crimes, the official said.
Independent estimates of the number of undocumented Chinese nationals in the US vary. The Migration Policy Institute (MPI) reported that as many as 239,000 Chinese immigrants were not authorized to be in the country by mid-2022.
Other countries with large numbers of undocumented people in the U.S., including India, are cooperating fully with the U.S., the official said.
The U.S. wants Beijing to provide travel documents and approve Customs and Border Protection charter flights carrying deportees paid by the U.S. to land in the country.
Under Section 243(d) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, the US can impose visa sanctions on countries deemed “recalcitrant” in fulfilling repatriation requests, a designation commonly used by China’s Department of Homeland Security.
U.S. officials dating back to the Obama administration have said they believe China is slowing issuing new travel documents to deportees because it does not want to take them back or sees the issue as a useful leverage point with Washington.
US law enforcement officials told Reuters that China sometimes tries to link Washington’s deportation requests with Beijing’s requests to extradite economic or political refugees who have fled to the United States.
Disclaimer: This story was published from the agency’s news feed without editing the text. Only the title was changed.
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