The U.S. immigration policy crackdown could affect Chinese migrants seeking asylum in U.S. Pacific Island territories.

Welcome to VOA Asia Weekly. I'm Chris Casquejo in Washington. That story is just ahead, but first, making headlines:

South Korea’s suspended president, Yoon Suk Yeol, defended his decisions as lawful and necessary to protect the country during the final arguments at his impeachment trial on Tuesday. The court will soon decide whether to reinstate him or remove him from office for his short-lived attempt at imposing martial law.

Taiwan's coast guard said it detained a China-linked cargo ship on Tuesday after an undersea cable in the Taiwan Strait was disconnected. A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said the cable incident was not a diplomatic issue.

"There are over 100 incidents of submarine optical cables being damaged around the world every year, which is a common maritime accident.”

A chartered bus overturned in eastern Thailand Wednesday morning, killing 18 people and injuring 31. The bus was carrying a municipal study tour group from Prachinburi province to coastal Rayong province. Road safety is a major problem in Thailand. The World Health Organization ranks the country ninth out of 175 member countries for road traffic deaths.

Authorities have cracked down on an online scam center in Myanmar, freeing more than seven thousand people who had been trafficked and forced to work. They are now waiting to be repatriated to their home countries.

Hong Kong’s Financial Secretary, Paul Chan, plans to spend more than 127 million U.S. dollars to establish an AI institute and reduce thousands of civil service jobs. He emphasized that the government will eliminate 10,000 civil servant positions by April 2027 and freeze salaries for civil servants this year.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s immigration policy has largely focused on migrants trying to cross into the U.S. at its border with Mexico, some having made the perilous trek from as far as South America. But out in the western Pacific Ocean, some Chinese are taking similarly dangerous routes to U.S. territories. VOA's Yu Yao and Jiu Dao have their story. Elizabeth Lee narrates.

Peter Huang has been living off the ocean in Guam ever since he left China in 2019.

Back then, he had flown from Hong Kong to Saipan, the capital of the Northern Mariana Islands, then traveled via rubber boat to the island of Guam. The Northern Marianas and Guam are both U.S. territories in the western Pacific Ocean.

“It’s Guam ahead. The mountain looks strange, like a wall.”

Saipan has been the first stop for Chinese asylum-seekers like Huang because it allowed Chinese nationals to stay for 14 days without a visa. But it doesn't accept asylum cases. Guam, about 214 kilometers southwest, does.

These asylum seekers worry the stricter immigration policies that U.S. President Donald Trump signed during his first weeks in office could impact their lives.

Huang says his involvement in Hong Kong protests against a proposal to allow extradition to China in 2019 made him, his wife and daughter targets of the police. Huang’s wife left him.

He decided to leave for Saipan.

“She said because of me; she and our child will be implicated.”

Other Chinese have also taken the dangerous ocean route to Guam. According to the island's Customs and Quarantine Agency, officers encountered 40 people last year as they arrived on Guam's shores.

“So far, everybody that we’ve encountered are Chinese nationals.”

Chinese migrant Liu Yun braved the open ocean twice before landing in Guam.

Liu and Huang may have to wait awhile for an outcome to their asylum cases, says Guam’s governor.

“One of the challenges here is we don’t have an adjudication judge for immigration. The only way is either they [judges] come to do the adjudication through the courts, or they do them virtually, and I know that they are backlogged.”

Under the Trump Administration, the asylum-seeking process at the U.S. southern border has been halted. For now, Huang and Liu live in a state of limbo, not knowing how President Trump's policies will affect them.

"I support President Trump's approach, because the asylum policy can't be abused."

That way, Huang says, those who really need asylum can get it.

For Yu Yao and Jiu Dao in Guam, Elizabeth Lee, VOA News.

Visit voanews.com for the most up-to-date stories.

I’m Chris Casquejo.

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