A woman who had spent the majority of her life in a busy city and her husband soon became critical of China’s zero-Covid policy during the country’s COVID lockdowns. She fled to the United States last month after they spoke out and were retaliated against by officials.
The woman didn’t follow the usual path and asked not to be named for fear of receiving more reprimands. Many Chinese migrants travel north through the Darien Gap, a section of jungle that separates Colombia and Panama, to reach the United States. She claimed to have taken a boat from the Bahamas instead.
She said that last month, in an attempt to enter the United States and submit an asylum application, she flew from China to London, then to the Bahamas, before boarding a boat to Coral Gables, Florida. She remembered coming across choppy waters, isolated islets, and the Border Patrol.
She then informed NBC News exclusively that she was arrested in Florida at the end of her trek.
She remarked in Mandarin, “I knew it’s dangerous, but I had no other choice,” while in the custody of Customs and Border Protection at the Broward Transitional Center in Pompano Beach, Florida.
The woman said that she was hounded by officials after criticizing the government. She claimed that she felt compelled to leave and that she had hired a lawyer in the United States to manage her asylum application.
She referred to Chinese leader Xi Jinping when she remarked, “China has no rule of law, no human rights, and the people are governed by an emperor.” Nothing remains once all of our liberties have been taken away.
On January 17, a few days before President Donald Trump took office and as Immigration and Customs Enforcement began making more arrests in places all around the nation, her trip came to an end. The acts seemed to foreshadow Trump’s vow to carry out huge deportations while in office.
According to investigators, the Chinese woman was one of 30 individuals arrested in Coral Gables as part of an investigation into a potential human trafficking or smuggling enterprise. Among those, twenty-one were Chinese.
Due to tighter enforcement on both the Mexican and U.S. sides, the number of Chinese migrants crossing the southern border has drastically decreased since 2023, when over 35,000 did so. Alternative smuggling routes, like the one taken by this woman through the Bahamas, may thus be becoming more and more common.
According to Coral Gables Police Chief Ed Hudak, the migrants were discovered in a U-Haul van, and those accused of orchestrating the operation were taken into custody. A security guard for a local homeowners association reportedly informed police that he believed an abduction was occurring, alerting them to the situation.
Officers stopped multiple vans carrying over two dozen Chinese migrants in Coral Gables on January 28 and opened an investigation.
Police are investigating whether there may have been a connection between the two instances and whether they were smuggling or human trafficking activities.
During a press conference last month, Hudak stated that smuggling is a criminal help to a somebody who wishes to enter the country legally. They may have begun as attempts to enter the country and then get involved in a nefarious conduct where people bring them here for illegal behavior, such as indentured servitude, but this is not the human trafficking side of things.
Although those trends can be cyclical, routes through the Bahamas have attracted attention in recent years. In 2022, authorities arrested 4,949 foreign nationals in New Providence, the most populated island in the Bahamas, more than twice as many as the previous year. In 2023, the figure dropped to 3,702 apprehensions, according to the nation’s Department of Immigration’s annual report.
In fiscal year 2025, which started in October, the number of Chinese migrants arrested in Miami has already surpassed three-quarters of the 2024 total.
According to experts, new routes may proliferate, and migrants may seek for alternate routes to the US as a result of tighter regulations on the southern border. Despite not having the ability to do so, Trump’s administration has stated that it will close routes like the Darien Gap.
One country that many nations do not require a visa to enter is the Bahamas.
The director of the Migration Policy Institute’s U.S. immigration policy program, Doris Meissner, told NBC News that she wasn’t shocked to see migrants passing through the Bahamas. She claimed that smugglers may have a time of waiting for changing administrations or policies. She added that further routes are probably being tried in various geographical areas.
Smugglers wait for the policies to be put into effect and see if they are adhered to. According to Meissner, the former commissioner of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, that is undoubtedly taking place at the Southwest border at the moment. There will usually be attempts to identify other routes during or after such type of time.
There are still concerns about the new administration’s approach to handling recently arrived unauthorized immigrants. Recently, Trump issued an executive order prohibiting asylum for anybody entering the country over the southern border. The expedited removal procedure, which enables CBP authorities to remove someone without an immigration court hearing or other court appearance, was extended by the Department of Homeland Security last month.
A trip costing $32,000
Awaiting an asylum hearing, the Chinese immigrant claimed to have communicated with her smugglers online.
“It has all the information you need to make the trip,” she stated in Mandarin.
According to her, the personnel in charge of the operation are situated in China’s Fujian province, which is on the country’s southeast coast.Smuggling has been a popular way for immigrants, particularly from Fujian, to enter the country since the 1980s. Modern smugglers can produce fictitious documentation for tourists, communicate and make handoffs at various locations, and locate less-traveled routes with the aid of technology and apps like WeChat.
“The traditional industry for the Fujianese is smuggling,” she remarked. They are aware of what to accomplish and oversee all marine routes.
Chinese Embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu stated that China’s stance on illegal immigration is unambiguous and consistent. In order to combat the threats posed by illicit cross-border operations like organized smuggling, the Chinese government will continue to fortify its cooperation on international immigration law enforcement and collaborate with pertinent nations. The Chinese government is adamantly opposed to all forms of illegal immigration.
According to the woman, the itinerary her smugglers had up for her involved taking a plane to London, then traveling to Nassau, Bahamas, and then boarding two different boats that were headed for Florida.
She claimed that although her Fujianese smugglers employed local guys to provide housing and transport her and her group, a smuggling operation in China handled all of the logistics and planning, including the last trip from the Bahamas to Miami.
The services are not inexpensive.
According to the woman, she promised to pay an extra $22,000 after she successfully arrived in the United States, after making an initial deposit of more than $10,000. She claimed that because of her current condition in detention, she is not required to pay the remaining amount.
She stated that she was more than prepared to pay the price in order to avoid persecution and fear.
However, the amount charged to passengers varies.
According to her, each person is taxed according to their unique situation. More money is demanded from those who can afford it. The less hazardous the roads you may have to drive, the more you spend.
The woman claimed that living in China just become intolerable.
She claimed that she was desperate enough to decide to leave China. “I’m terrified to return,” she remarked. I am aware that I will suffer a negative outcome.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, China has always upheld the concept of putting people s lives first, and scientifically and accurately optimized epidemic prevention measures, Pengyu said. China’s strategy for preventing and controlling epidemics is sound, practical, appropriate for the country’s circumstances, and long-lasting. At the same time, I want to stress that China is a country under the rule of law, and the Chinese government protects the lawful rights of its citizens.
Momentary freedom
Onboard the boat in the waters off the Bahamas, large waves violently shook her and the other passengers. I remember thinking we were all going to capsize, she said.
But after many hours at sea, the boat finally stopped on a remote island. It was already close to midnight and the temperatures had plummeted. After a windy, uncomfortable night where she said the migrants were told not to turn on their phones for fear the light would alert authorities, she boarded a second boat at daybreak, headed for U.S. soil, Coral Gables.
When we arrived, there was a lot of happiness on the faces of the other passengers, she said.
But that happiness didn t last long.
Just two minutes later, we were all apprehended, she said.
Since she was taken into CBP custody, the woman said she s been treated very well.
Everyone here has been very kind to me, she said. They re even wishing me happy Chinese New Year.
Customs and Border Protection did not respond to NBC News request for comment.
Her hope in coming to the U.S. was to eventually join relatives living in another state. Whether she gets that chance will be left to the courts.
America is a land governed by laws and respect for human rights, she said. That s why it s the best country in the world.