Chinese 'snakehead' gangs are working WITH the cartel to bring migrants into the US - as others walk in LEGALLY with help of CBP One App that 320,000 used to fly in

The sudden rush of Chinese migrants on the US border has baffled Americans asking why they are coming - and how they're getting here. 

Now, it can be revealed for the first time that some are being aided by Chinese gangs known as 'snakeheads' who are operating in synchrony with Mexican cartels. 

Known for their brutal people smuggling tactics, the snakeheads have long ferried migrants into unsuspecting nations around the world. 

Now, DailyMail.com can reveal that they are working to secure entry to the US for thousands of Chinese nationals. 

First, the Chinese secure their route through a smuggler, paying thousands to fly from their native country to Mexico and other central and south American cities.

Then, they are shown the way across the border by one of the gangs. 

Others are arriving legally after using the controversial CBP One app that has been used by 320,000 to fly in after claiming asylum from their home countries. 

Some of those who came into the country legally via the app were observed by DailyMail.com in San Diego last week. They were greeted by boorish taxi drivers who refused to discuss the arrangement or how they were hired. 

Many of the Chinese asylum-seekers were well dressed and had thousands of dollars to negotiate private cars to drive them to their final destinations in the US. Above, a man who entered the country legally using the controversial CBP One app 

This stylish migrant arrived to the border very smartly dressed, standing out from other migrants. He requested to be driven in an upgraded car to Los Angeles

For a elevated price, a well-to-do Chinese asylum-seeker asks for an upgraded private car to take him to Los Angeles after crossing the US-Mexico border near San Diego, California

A Chinese migrant camp near Jacumba, California has signs showing Chinese asylum seekers where to turn themselves over to US Border Patrol agents

When approached, the drivers snarled and refused questions.

They then took payments of between $1,000 and $1,500 per person for the cramped, three-hour ride. 

Their eagerness to be here is clear. What is surprising is their intention to return to China, 'at some point', as some indicated when probed about their journey. 

Gangland boss Sister Ping died in a Texas prison in 2014 where she was serving 35 years for building the world's most sophisticated network of people smugglers who brought up to 200,000 illegal immigrants into America alone

Unlike the desperate families swimming the Rio Grande or prying through razor wire with little more than the clothes on their backs, the Chinese arrive stylishly. 

There was barely a hair out of place in the case of one man who paused for a cigarette before his taxi journey, keeping a close eye on his smart carry-on luggage and weekender bag. 

The 'snakeheads' have long operated along the border, but the sudden rise in demand has sent business through the roof,  former intelligence officer Todd Bensman tells DailyMail.com. 

'Chinese smuggling has changed in recent years. 

'Migrants can now take self-propelled trips to Mexico by following what they see online or learn in a chatroom, where they previously had to rely on Snakeheads.'

Several migrants from China interviewed by DailyMail.com in San Diego this week confirmed they had paid Chinese smugglers in exchange for being shown routes and specific spots where they could make illegal entry into California.

'Snakehead' loyalists Weng Mu Huou, Su Pei Wu and Li Hua Li were arrested in 2001 for smuggling migrants into Britain 

Many of the migrants flooding the border are doing so legally with the help of CBP One  - the app the Biden administration has used to fly thousands into the country 

These Chinese migrants were dropped off at a transit center near San Diego Tuesday after they were processed and screened by federal immigration authorities  

Chinese migrants are crossing the US-Mexico border in increasing numbers, federal statistics show

More than 320,000 migrants have flown in to the US on previously unreported flights 

'He was Chinese,' a Chinese man who did not want to share his name said of the smuggler he paid to show him how to get into the US, adding that he made contact with the smuggler through social media.

In fact, the migrant explained he planned his entire trip from Zhejiang Province on the eastern coast of China by following guides and videos from other migrants online.

Bensman explained Chinese migrants who use Snakeheads to get into the US are well-coached in what to tell US officials under the threat to not give up information on their smugglers.

'They're so well coached and, we would get the same story from all of them, and not one variation,' he said.

Other Chinese border crossers shared similar stories about paying Chinese men to be taken to locations east of San Diego, where they were instructed how to enter the US and surrender to Border Patrol agents so the migrants could claim asylum.

'This is demographic that is very different than what we have seen here before. These are people who are flying into Tijuana,' migrant aid volunteer Samuel Schultz told DailyMail.com.

Chinese migrants described traveling from China, to Taiwan, to Turkey and then South America before flying into Mexico. The multiple stops are necessary as Chinese citizens cannot fly from their homeland to the US directly. Above, some who entered legally with paperwork provided by the government 

Despite having a translator, many Chinese migrants shunned being interviewed and most did not want to be photographed

('Migrants) can stand outside one or two or three hotels in downtown Tijuana, and if they look foreign, they will be approached on the streets. 

The CBP One app allows migrants to legally enter the US and arrange appointments with officials 

'The going rate now is $600. The person drives them to a point (on Mexican side of the border) and tells them, 'Walk that way.'" 

Schultz hands out food and water to the mostly Chinese migrants who had been crossing the border near Jacumba, about an hour outside of San Diego, by squeezing through openings in the border wall.

But those migrants don't arrive at those remote locations alone, Schultz explained.

After meeting Chinese smugglers in Tijuana, a metropolis of three million people, the Chinese pay for a ride to a remote area where the Chinese guide tells them where to cross. The Chinese smugglers stay on the Mexican side, and know all the area with easy access to the US.

Chinese criminal organizations have been working in Mexico for many year in drug trade and money laundering, but have recently moved into human trafficking business as Chinese migrants have started showing up at the border, explained cartel expert Robert Almonte.

A group of Chinese men offered migrants arriving in San Diego legally private cars to take them to their final destinations. The drivers became angry when photographed by DailyMail.com

'The Chinese (smugglers) just can't go over there and cut the Mexican cartels out - that just doesn't happen. They've got to be paying the Mexican cartel some kind of a percentage, quota or tax,' he said.

Organized criminal gangs from China first came to Mexico years ago with the chemicals needed to make meth and fentanyl. 

Many of them stayed in Mexico to help cartel king pins launder its billions through Chinese's banks, Almonte added.

And while a recent wave of Chinese migrants arriving at the border had opened a new revenue stream to Chinese smugglers, not all Chinese asylum-seekers are entering the country with the help of smugglers.

Many are arriving with CBP One appointments, the legal way for migrants to request asylum in the US.

Once those Chinese citizens have their appointment at a port of entry near San Diego, they are released into the streets with paperwork that allows them to be in the US legally.

As Chinese migrants were released into the streets near San Diego Tuesday, they declined help from organization who help migrants

After being released by federal authorities, Chinese migrants were approached by Chinese men who drive private cars and offered to take them away. Most migrants agreed to pay over $1,000 a person to be driven to Los Angeles

However, the Chinese newcomers are a far cry from the destitute and desperate Latin American migrants who first began flooding over the border in 2021.

Many of these Asian migrants carried expensive luggage and were dressed fashionably-- in stark contrast to the South American migrants who have often spent months walking and have sold every possession they own to make the journey north to America.

'I left China and went to Taiwan; from there, Turkey, Ecuador and then plane to Mexico,' said another Chinese woman who didn't want her name or picture shown.

She said she was embarrassed for people back home to see her traveling this way. 

When asked why, she replied, 'I plan to go back to China, not stay here.'

She confirmed she was applying for asylum, but intended to go back and forth between the two countries.

'When I get visa for travel, I go back to China. Then I can travel whenever I want,' she stated.

The high success rate of Chinese asylum claims is a long-standing trend, but it has come under the spotlight following a spike in illegal crossings by Chinese migrants last year 

Dozens of Chinese migrants showed up at one time, as a there has been a recent surge in migrants from China arriving at the US-Mexico border

Sam Schultz hands out foot and water to Chinese migrants crossing the border near his home in Jacumba, California, about an hour east of San Diego

Chinese nationals have historically had a high success rate with asylum claims in America, and Beijing often refuses to accept deportation of its citizens whose asylum status is rejected. 

Asylum is typically offered only to those fleeing prosecution or oppression - not intended for it to be used as a visitor visa. 

It's common to see Spanish-speaking migrants who have risked life and limb to make it the border break down in tears when they reach the US, not feel ashamed for their countrymen to see them entering the US through the asylum process. 

Most asylum-seekers from Spanish-speaking countries arrive without a penny to their name, and often don't have money to purchase airfare or a bus ticket to their final destination city. 

The State Department is yet to address the phenomenon of Chinese migrants arriving in the US with the help of gangs, or their fraudulent asylum claims. 

Jacumba, California has become a recent hot spot for Chinese migrants to enter the US