Immigration
Tucson sector sees jump in number of Chinese border crossers
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ThreadedThoughts/Flickr
Stephen Ceasar, a reporter with the New York Times Student Journalism Institute, is changing the image of the typical illegal immigrant crossing into the US.
The number of Chinese citizens crossing the Sonoran Desert headed to Tucson has exploded, Ceasar reports in the New York Times.
In fiscal 2009, 332 Chinese immigrants were caught in the Border Patrol’s Tucson sector, up from 30 the previous year, Border Patrol figures showed. And in what could be a sign of a record-breaking pace for this year, agents in the Border Patrol’s Tucson sector arrested 281 Chinese immigrants from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31, the first quarter of the current fiscal year.
Although the countries of origin may not be exclusively in Latin America, the reason for the trek is the same, said Patsy Lee, president of the Tucson Chinese Association.
"The Chinese youth love the freedom Americans have. They still see America as the land of promise.”
