sources say Trump could deport undocumented Chinese first, of military age, Asian American groups rush to prep

As sources say Trump could deport undocumented Chinese first, Asian American groups rush to prep
Sources previously told NBC News that undocumented Chinese nationals of military age will be among the first groups targeted for deportation by the incoming Trump administration.

Asian American organizations say they are scrambling, but not completely surprised, over President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign promise of mass deportations.

Undocumented immigrants from China who are deemed to be of military age will be among the first groups targeted for deportation by the incoming Trump administration, sources close to the campaign previously told NBC News, citing the potential risk to national security.

While many community organizations have been making plans for months in anticipation of Trump’s immigration promises, the potential to be targeted has left many groups prepping immigration materials across Asian languages and coordinating with other community nonprofits to help serve the potential spike in families impacted by deportations.


Asian Americans have long had the fastest-growing undocumented population, tripling over a 15-year period, from 2000 to 2015, and the number of Chinese nationals crossing into the U.S. has skyrocketed in recent years. Between fiscal years 2022 and 2024, the number of undocumented Chinese nationals crossing both the northern and southern borders has tripled from just more than 27,000 to more than 78,000.

Bethany Li, executive director of the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, said that the targeting of the Chinese community has long been foreshadowed. She cited laws in several states that restrict Chinese people from buying homes and other real estate, as well as the Trump-era security program the China Initiative, which was accused of racial profiling toward Asian scholars.

“We know that both the state and federal government have deemed China as a national security threat,” she said. “We saw this in World War II with Japanese Americans incarcerated. We saw this post-9/11 with Muslim and South Asian men being detained and some deported.”

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/trump-deportations-chinese-nationals-campaign-promise-rcna180212