This archive report was first published on 11 December 2019.
On Saturday, US Customs and Border Protection agents made a shocking discovery at the San Ysidro Port of Entry in San Diego, California.
Eleven Chinese migrants were found hiding inside a washing machine, a chest of drawers, and a dresser in a moving truck.
According to CNN, the migrants were arrested alongside the truck driver, a 42-year-old US citizen, but his identity and expected charges have not been revealed.
This incident comes on the heels of two recent cases in the UK, where 39 dead bodies of Chinese nationals were found in a refrigerated truck in London in October, and six Chinese migrants were discovered hidden in another truck behind a false wall a month later.
China's economic transformation has lifted many of its citizens out of poverty, but it still ranks fourth among countries with the most citizens living abroad.
According to Natalia Banulescu-Bodgan from the Migration Policy Institute (MPI), 'The opportunities within a country as large as China are not equally distributed.'
Reports indicate that many Chinese citizens still live in squalor despite the country's high economic growth in recent years.
MPI attributes the migration from China to political repression and the policy that restricts each couple to having only one child.
