Noem warns of 'coordinated' effort to funnel Chinese nationals into US

China is allegedly orchestrating a highly coordinated, "travel agency"-style operation designed to funnel Chinese nationals across U.S. borders, former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Tuesday.

Speaking exclusively on FOX Business’ "Mornings with Maria," the current Special Envoy for the Shield of the Americas detailed intelligence she said showed how alleged Beijing-backed networks provide undocumented migrants with specialized documents and transit directly to the northern and southern borders.

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

EX-WHITE HOUSE ‘AI CZAR’ WARNS U.S. COULD LOSE AI RACE TO CHINA IF WASHINGTON OVERREGULATES

"They would show up, be handed certain documents, a backpack, get on a bus and then bus straight up over our southern border… And overwhelmingly, 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, to change our country," she added.

Republicans have warned for years about a record number of Chinese immigrants crossing the border, with reports of more than 22,000 encounters involving Chinese nationals at the southern border since late 2023.

U.S. intelligence and the DEA have also repeatedly said that the vast majority of illicit fentanyl precursor chemicals originate in chemical factories inside China before being shipped to Mexican cartels for processing and trafficking.

"They have facilitated that," Noem said. "I wouldn't say, necessarily, we found ties to it officially, right to the government, 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."

"And remember, China has a thousand-year plan to destroy the United States. They don't just build up their military. They don't just manipulate their currency, harm us with trade practices," she said. "They have a plan to kill our country from the inside by killing off our next generation of Americans. They will use every tool that they have."

GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE

Noem, the former South Dakota congresswoman and governor, was ousted from her top DHS position on March 5. Noem’s tenure marked a distinct reversal of the open-border policies permitted by predecessor Alejandro Mayorkas during the Biden administration, and DHS reported record drug interdictions totaling more than half a million pounds of illegal drugs in her first year.

Under former Secretary Kristi Noem's leadership, the Department of Homeland Security said in December 2025 that the Trump administration's immigration crackdown helped spur more than 1.9 million self-deportations and more than 600,000 removals. Supporters hailed the numbers as proof of a record-setting enforcement effort, though independent demographers and fact-checkers disputed the methodology behind the self-deportation estimates.

READ MORE FROM FOX BUSINESS

Fox News’ Adam Shaw, Charles Creitz and Alex Miller contributed to this report.