July 4, 2000
U.S. Seeks China's Help in Slowing the Flood of Illegal
Immigrants
By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL
EIJING, July 3 -- The head
of the American Immigration and Naturalization Service held talks here
today with Chinese officials, hoping to get a commitment for more help
in stemming the huge flow of illegal Chinese immigrants into the
United States.
The visit came just weeks after 58 Chinese migrants suffocated
while being smuggled into England in the back of a truck.
"We've gotten cooperation, but it's been on a case-by-case basis,"
said the immigration service commissioner, Doris Meissner. "But we'd
like to see better cooperation not just from China but also from
transit countries as well." Most illegal Chinese immigrants arrive in
the United States via a third country, where they often get fake
documents.
Ms. Meissner said that the United States had slowed the number of
illegal migrants arriving by boat, but also said that as boat traffic
had dropped off, the number of illegal migrants arriving by air with
counterfeit documents had increased.
She estimated that the service would send back 4,000 Chinese
arriving illegally at American airports this year, with many landing
in Los Angeles, Seattle and New York.
Ms. Meissner's delegation will also visit Fuzhou, capital of Fujian
Province, the home region of most Chinese who now live illegally in
the United States.
The service estimates that tens of thousands of Chinese are
smuggled in each year.
Many Western governments that are trying to thwart the smuggling
say that international criminal gangs are making huge profits in this
illegal human trade.
"The amounts of money that go into this and the level of
organization and the level of criminality and abuse puts Chinese
smuggling in a class by itself," Ms. Meissner said.
She said the quick return of those who are intercepted is "the
strongest signal that can be sent that taking the risk and paying the
money will not pay off."
But quick repatriation is often not possible in the case of the
Chinese, since many apply for political asylum and the claims can take
years to work through the system.
Although Chinese officials have said that the relatively liberal
American political-asylum process encourages poor Chinese to try their
luck at emigration, Ms. Meissner said that complaint had not come up
in meetings here.
She said only about 13 percent of political asylum claims by
Chinese are successful, generally made by people who say they will
face political or religious persecution if they are returned to the
mainland. But many illegal immigrants disappear into the vast Chinese
networks in cities like New York before the asylum process is
complete.
Ms. Meissner said the talks today touched on cooperative ventures,
adding: "We need to share analytic information. We need to work
together on fraudulent document use, and on public information so that
accurate information is getting into the sending societies and
communities."
