China’s growing presence in America’s backyard could grant the communist country access to Florida’s coast, coinciding with a dramatic rise in Chinese national border encounters.

The Caribbean region, also known as “America’s third border” due to its proximity to the U.S., has been financially backed by China in maritime logistics and infrastructure projects in recent years. 

“I think the Chinese are trying to gain influence in a region which is very close to the American homeland,” Gordon G. Chang, an author and expert on U.S.-China relations told Fox News Digital. 

Chang pointed to the $3.4-billion Freeport Container port project in the Bahamas, just 87 miles east of Palm Beach, Florida.  

A report from the House Foreign Affairs Committee found that China invested over $10 billion in six Caribbean countries between 2005 and 2022.

now two thirds of Chinese migrants coming into the U.S. are single men of military age, traveling alone, and claiming they don’t speak any English.

“Border Patrol has noticed that in some of these packs, they’re coming across in packs between 4 and 15, that everybody in the pack has an identical kit,” he said. “That is an ominous sign.”