By ALEXA OLESEN
(Virtual China News, June 21) The 54 men and four women who perished while being smuggled into England last weekend survived a journey through six different countries in Asia and Europe before perishing while crossing the English channel into England, Chinese-language newspapers published in New York reported Tuesday.
The illegal immigrants started their journey in Fuzhou, the capital city of Fujian Province, and continued through Hong Kong, Moscow, the Czech Republic, Germany, and Holland before making the doomed five-hour passage to the U.K., according to the reports.
Their bodies were discovered on Sunday in the back of a Dutch truck that was thought to be carrying tomatoes. The trucks' refrigeration had been turned off and temperatures on the day of travel were well in the 80s.
The disaster, by far the largest number of illegal immigrants known to have perished in such a case, occurs at a time when organized human trafficking between China and the rich developed countries of the West is booming.
Indentured Servitude
The most frequent destinations for refugees fleeing China are Australia and the United States. It is most frequently organized by mafia-type figures called "snakeheads" who charge between $30,000 and $60,000 to ensure passage, then keep the illegal aliens in indentured servitude in their new countries.
The closest in scale to the present disaster occurred in 1987, when 18
Mexican men were found suffocated to death in a boxcar in Sierra Blanca in
west Texas.
U.S. officials, believe, however, there may frequently be cases where
hundreds of immigrants die at sea when the ships that they are smuggled in sink without a trace between Australia or the United States.
"They use rust buckets, retired freighters that are barely, if at all, seaworthy," said Nancy Cohen, spokesperson for the United States Immigration and Naturalization Services. "We don't know how many just don't ever make it. You could have 120 people piled onto one of them and have it sink in the Pacific or elsewhere and no one would ever know what happened to them."
Bribes to Police
According to U.S. government statistics, there were 2,585 apprehensions of
Chinese immigrants illegally entering the United States in 1999, more than double the number in 1998, when there were 1,145 apprehensions. In
1997 there were 656 apprehensions and in 1996 there were 692.
Increasing numbers of illegal immigrants caught might indicate heightened
vigilance on the part of U.S. Customs and Coast Guard officials or it may
indicate increasing numbers of Chinese people attempting entry.
n recent months, the Chinese government has publicized a crackdown campaign
in Fujian province. In March of this year Xinhua reported that 171
snakeheads were detained in 1999 and 288 were arrested the year earlier.
However, despite those efforts, crackdowns are no doubt
hampered by the ability of snakeheads to offer considerable sums as bribes
to police. The trade in smuggling desperate people out of Fujian actually
has an upside for those who stay behind.
Immigration Disputes
"Economically speaking Fujian is one of the best provinces in China," said Rick Kenney, spokesman for the Executive Office of Immigration Review, the U.S. government body in charge of adjudication in Immigration disputes. "The
irony is that one reason [for the prosperity] is because they have the
snakeheads and they are making a lot of money."
Others say that the bulk of the money earned in the trafficking is taken in
by Taiwanese, Chinese American, or other overseas triads and that the cash
flows out of China along with the traffic of humans.
One thing is certain: huge amounts of money are being made by smuggling people out of China. Despite the enormity of this week's tragedy in Dover, however, experts feel the snakeheads will likely continue their trade.
"They will keep trying to find new routes," Kenney said. "Like any lucrative business, the businessman will try to find any way to keep that revenue coming in."
Political Asylum
Those immigrants lucky enough to survive the journey to the U.S., England, Germany, Canada or elsewhere often have unenviable fates. If they are not caught they may seek asylum but, in the U.S. at least, their chances of being granted asylum are slim as in most cases the immigrant must prove he or she would suffer political persecution if returned.
Last year 6,067 Chinese people applied for asylum, while only 929 received the coveted status. While some of those applicants found other ways of staying in America most of them were re-patriated.
Instead of taking the gamble of applying to stay legally in the U.S. as a political refugee, most illegal Chinese immigrants try to survive on the fringes of society without detection.
"Most of these people end up staying underground and they become abused," said Andy Lipkind, a New York-based immigration lawyer. "They become indentured slaves to the people that brought them here."
According to reports, the passengers banged on the walls of the truck and screamed to be let out but no one responded and the door to the truck has been locked in from the outside. Two of the passengers are thought to have survived the ordeal.
Major Apprehensions of Smuggled Mainland Immigrants
| Destination |
Date |
Transport |
Number Found |
Number Deceased |
| Japan |
April
1992 |
Ship |
50
+ |
7 |
| USA |
January
1993 |
Dong Lin Hu
Ship |
524 |
0 |
| USA |
June
1993 |
Golden Venture
Ship |
286 |
10 |
| Japan |
August
1998 |
Ship |
16 |
8 |
| USA |
February
1999 |
Orient-UK
Ship |
21 |
0 |
| USA |
December
1999 |
Orient-Holland
Ship |
20
+ |
0 |
| Canada |
January
2000 |
California Mercury
Ship |
25 |
0 |
| USA |
January 2000 |
NYK Cape
May |
18 |
3 |
| England |
June
2000 |
Refrig.
Truck |
60 |
58 |
Source:
World Journal |
Internet Sources and Resources On Chinese Immigration:
Immigration & Naturalization Services Website
Executive Office for
Immigration Review
US Committee For Refugees
Text of a Global Vision Documentary About
"Snakeheads"
National Archives and Records Administration:
Chinese Immigration and Chinese in the United States
A
Population Bulletin Report:
Asian Americans, Diverse and Growing
Angel Island, San Francisco Bay, California where as many as
175,000 Chinese immigrants were detained and processed between 1910 and
1940.
To reach Alexa Olesen email: alexa@virtualchina.net
