Noem Alleges China Operates Network To Funnel Migrants Into U.S.

Former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is warning that Chinese-linked networks have allegedly helped coordinate the movement of migrants into the United States through organized routes across Latin America.

Noem made the claim Tuesday during an appearance on FOX Business’ “Mornings with Maria,” where she described intelligence and testimony she said came from partner countries in Central and South America.

According to Noem, officials in several nations reported systems designed to move Chinese nationals through the region and eventually toward the U.S. southern border.

“We saw very coordinated attacks of people coming into this country from China,” Noem said.

Noem, who now serves as special envoy for the Shield of the Americas initiative, said foreign governments described operations resembling travel agencies.

She said Chinese nationals would arrive in certain countries and then receive help with documents, supplies, and transportation.

“Countries that I have worked with in Latin and South America have told us how they had Chinese operations set up for people to fly into their countries, almost like a travel agency would be,” Noem said.

From there, she alleged, migrants were moved north toward the United States.

“They would show up, be handed certain documents, a backpack, get on a bus and then bus straight up over our southern border,” she said.

Noem said the people involved were largely young adults.

“The testimonies have been that they were the same-aged individuals, young, mainly men, some females, but very much a coordinated attempt to get individuals into our country,” she said.

Noem did not publicly present evidence directly tying the alleged operations to the Chinese government. Still, she argued the pattern fits into broader national security concerns about China’s long-term strategy against the United States.

Republicans have sounded the alarm for years over rising numbers of Chinese nationals encountered at the U.S.-Mexico border, arguing that the issue cannot be separated from broader questions of sovereignty, border security, and foreign influence.

Federal border data showed more than 22,000 encounters involving Chinese nationals at the southern border since late 2023, making the issue a recurring focus in congressional hearings and national security debates.

Noem also linked the concern to China’s role in the fentanyl crisis.

U.S. intelligence agencies and the Drug Enforcement Administration have repeatedly reported that many precursor chemicals used to make fentanyl originate from suppliers in China before being shipped to criminal organizations in Mexico. Those cartels then manufacture and traffic the deadly drug into the United States.

“They have facilitated that,” Noem said when discussing China’s role in the fentanyl supply chain.

She stopped short of saying the Chinese government had been officially tied to the activity.

“I wouldn’t say, necessarily, we found ties to it officially, right to the government,” Noem said.

“But absolutely, Chinese businesses, those tied to the CCP, those individuals working with the cartels to make sure that the product gets into the United States.”

Noem argued that China uses multiple channels to weaken and pressure the United States, from illegal migration networks to the flow of fentanyl precursors.

“They have a plan to kill our country from the inside by killing off our next generation of Americans,” she said.

“They will use every tool that they have.”

Noem served as Homeland Security secretary until March 5. During her tenure, the Trump administration pursued a more aggressive immigration enforcement strategy than the policies implemented under former Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas during the Biden administration.

The Department of Homeland Security later reported major increases in enforcement activity.

In December 2025, DHS said the administration’s immigration crackdown had contributed to more than 600,000 removals and roughly 1.9 million self-deportations.

Supporters of President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda pointed to those figures as evidence that stronger enforcement, clearer consequences, and a serious border policy were producing results.

Some independent researchers and fact-checking organizations, however, questioned the methodology behind the self-deportation estimates, Fox News reported.

For Republicans, Noem’s remarks reinforce a larger argument: America’s border crisis is not merely a domestic policy failure. It is a national security vulnerability that hostile foreign actors, cartels, and global criminal networks can exploit.

The concerns over Chinese nationals crossing the border, fentanyl precursors flowing from China, and cartel operations in Mexico all feed into a broader conservative warning that open-border policies create dangerous opportunities for America’s adversaries.

Noem’s message was blunt: the United States cannot protect its citizens if it refuses to control who enters the country.

And for conservatives, that is exactly why Trump’s border-first approach remains central to the national security debate.