China promises to take back illegal migrants after Trump threats

China pledged to accept the return of undocumented Chinese citizens in the US, after President Donald Trump threatened to hit Colombia with tariffs of up to 50% for refusing to take back deported migrants.

"China will receive people who are confirmed as Chinese nationals from the mainland after verification," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said Monday at a regular press briefing, when asked if Beijing would take back citizens living without documentation in the US. "The Chinese government firmly opposes any form of illegal migration."

There were some 210,000 undocumented Chinese migrants in America in 2022, according to the US government, including those from Hong Kong and Macau. That number has likely risen with tens of thousands of people with passports from China crossing the US border without the proper paperwork since the pandemic ended.

China accepted four planeloads of Chinese migrants living undocumented in the US last year, according to a statement from the Department of Homeland Security. Prior to that, President Xi Jinping's government hadn't accepted such a repatriation flight since 2018, a stretch that included a yearslong period when Covid controls closed its borders.

Since Trump returned to office, he's struck a softer tone on China, only threatening Beijing with 10% tariffs for failing to stop the flow of fentanyl into America. That contrasted with swaggering campaign trail warnings that levies as high as 60% could be on the way.