[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 4] [House] [Pages 5767-5770] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION FROM CHINA The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the gentleman from Guam (Mr. Underwood) is recognized for 5 minutes. Mr. UNDERWOOD. Madam Speaker, I take this opportunity to speak to one issue which is of some national significance because it evidences a pattern that is occurring, and that is illegal immigration from China. I would like to point out that, Madam Speaker, that Guam is a very isolated community from Washington, DC. It is some 9,000 miles away and it is the closest U.S. soil to China. During the past year, there has been an inordinate amount of illegal immigration into Guam from China, and we assumed that it was from perhaps nearby the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas, but as it has turned out these are illegal immigrants who come in on fishing boats directly from the Province of Fuqing inside China. This kind of illegal immigration is not the kind of illegal immigration that we normally assume exists, which is that people are fleeing either for political reasons or looking for an economic better way of life. All of those might be part of this, but usually when we watch the kinds of [[Page 5768]] things that occur on our southern border or perhaps some of the illegal immigration which is coming from Haiti or in the Caribbean Sea, other parts of the Caribbean Sea, we witness people who are risking life and limb in order to better themselves economically. If they are successful, they go on and live their lives as members of individual families and indeed frequently find a better way of life. In this case, what we have is an illegal stream of immigrants that is primarily orchestrated by criminal organizations inside China commonly referred to as ``snakeheads.'' Last year, and Guam last a very small population, it is estimated that over 700 arrived through this manner and since the beginning of this year alone there has already been 254, and some 97 were simply apprehended off the coast of Guam, in Agat, last weekend. What these people undergo is that they pay anywhere from $10,000 to $30,000 for the privilege of being put in a fishing boat usually under a hundred feet and there may be as many as 200 or 300 of them inside this fishing boat. Then they are taken out in the open ocean and they arrive on Guam, and they usually try to come in on small boats so we do not know what exactly the dynamics of the stream is like. If they are caught, they immediately ask for political asylum. If they are successful in this, and they invariably are, they then enter a period of what can only be termed as indentured servitude for these snakehead organizations for the next 10 to 20 years, probably working below the minimum wage in some underground economy inside this country. So this problem, and the use of political asylum on Guam, and claims to political asylum by these illegal immigrants, do not necessarily benefit the immigrants themselves but is part of a well constructed, well organized criminal activity that is orchestrated from inside China in the Fuqing province. The People's Republic of China themselves are embarrassed by this, as I understand it. These are criminal organizations that are acting on their own. The way to solve this problem is to eliminate or narrow the gap for claims of political asylum on Guam. This in no way means that I myself or the people of Guam are not in favor of political asylum, but in this instance what has happened is that these snakehead organizations have used the political asylum mechanism in order to benefit their criminal activities, which are well documented in these articles by Brad Wong, Hiroshi Hiyama and Frieda Bush, and to create and to prey on the hopes of these people inside China and then to continue to prey upon them once they are successfully brought into this country. I have introduced legislation for this purpose, to give latitude to INS officers in Guam, and this is possible under the Immigration and Naturalization Act, to carve out special laws and regulations for insular jurisdictions of the United States. I hope that there is widespread support for this. This is an important issue not only for us but it is a good way to stop illegal immigration and to benefit criminal organizations inside China. Madam Speaker, I would like to submit for the Record six articles of the Pacific Daily News. These articles point out in great detail the dynamics of this. 95 Apprehended in Agat--6 Women, 12 Children Among Group in INS Custody (By Hiroshi Hiyama.--Pacific Daily News) Six women and a dozen children are among 95 Chinese nationals who were apprehended early yesterday morning after their ship ran aground on a reef off Agat. It was the largest number of suspected illegal immigrants and smugglers caught at one time, followed by the 79 apprehended in January. Yesterday's apprehension brings the tally to about 235 suspected illegal immigrants caught on and around Guam this year. It began when 32 people were spotted on the beach by police Officer Frank Cepeda, who was patrolling near the old Agat cemetery around 2 a.m., according to police spokesman Marc Howard. Their ship had run aground earlier on the reef off Agat, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. The rusty, 120-foot fishing vessel had no identifying markings. After the accident, the ship's six-member crew jumped on a smaller boat, telling their passengers that they would go ashore to get help. Shortly afterward, 32 passengers jumped off the fishing vessel, suspecting that the crew members wouldn't come back to rescue them, Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer John Howk said. They were the group approached by Cepeda at the Agat beach. They offered no resistance, and a handful of police officers marched the group to the Agat precinct, Howard said. At the same time, police contacted the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Guam police and fire officials launched their own boats to check the fishing vessel. The Coast Guard also launched the cutter Galveston Island and a Navy HC-5 helicopter to tend the vessel. On the ship, local and federal officers found 57 people huddled together, waiting for assistance, Howk said. Officials later caught the six crew members on an Agat shoreline, bringing the total number of apprehensions to 95, Howk said. The Chinese nationals hadn't had food or water for the past few days, said Joe Galoski, INS supervisory special agent. None showed signs of illness, and they were fed and cleaned by federal and local officials. They spent roughly 11 days at sea traveling from the Fujian province in southern China to Guam, Galoski said. They were taken to the Department of Corrections yesterday, where they spent the night with dozens of other suspected Chinese illegal immigrants who had been apprehended in previous incidents. A few who have been here awhile have picked up a few English words and helped local prison officials to clean the newcomers' belongings. The investigation into yesterday's apprehension will continue today, officials said. The fishing vessel was towed to Victor Wharf, where the Coast Guard office is located. Coast Guard officials said they haven't noticed any obvious signs of oil leaks, or other contaminants in the environment in the waters off Agat. ____ Chinese Dream of Life Abroad (By Brad Wong) FUQING, China--In an alleyway off a main shopping street in this coastal city of Fujian province, a group of peasants leaned against their rusty bicycles and chatted with one another in an open-air market one day last month. With people buying food and milling about among pig heads, pile of leafy vegetables and mounds of oranges, one farmer stood next to his produce, spread on a plastic tarp on the ground. How much, he wondered would his cabbage cost in the United States? In a black sedan with tinted windows that normally shuttles Taiwanese and Hong Kong business executives around town, a driver with thinning gray hair and a tan, weathered complexion offered a visitor $24,000 for help to immigrate to the United States, a place the Chinese call ``beautiful country.'' He boasted how his daughter could speak English, and called her on his cellular phone to prove it. The man talked about a friend in the United States who gives him regular reports about living abroad. ``The homes are very good and there are a lot of vehicles,'' he said. In the streets and alleys of this city, with its shiny new hotels and tiny brick huts, residents don't disclose it initially, but the dream is tucked in minds and hearts, never far from thought. The desire: to go abroad, seek wealth and give their children better opportunities than they've had. And clerks, restaurant owners and others from all walks of life all say the same thing: They want to earn money in the United States. Some even cite a saying popular in the new market-oriented China to describe those who take risks in pursuing profits and opportunities. They call it, ``Jumping in the sea.'' According to Chief Petty Officer John Howk, in charge of operations at the Coast Guard's Guam center, since April 1998, more than 500 smugglers and fortune seekers from this city and province have jumped and landed illegally on Guam or have been apprehended trying to make it to Guam's shores. On Sunday, the Immigration and Naturalization Service took 97 Chinese nationals into custody after a fishing vessel from Fujian province hit the reef off Agat. It was the largest number of suspected illegal immigrants caught entering the United States' westernmost territory at any one time, but Howk said the Coast Guard believes that practice will either continue at its present rate of increase. The immigrants are typically poor peasants from a country of 1.2 billion people, where such residents make up 70 percent of the population. Many Fujian residents say it's difficult to obtain a legal visa to live and work in the United States. So they look to the sea as a way out and for new opportunities. snakeheads After a two-week boat trip from China, the immigrants often arrive on Guam wet, hungry and sometimes ill or carrying contagious diseases. They lack English language skills, Chinese passports and U.S. visas. [[Page 5769]] Behind the arrivals on Guam's shores are smugglers from this city and province. Called ``snakeheads'' in Chinese, these organized criminals orchestrate human-cargo shipments, charging as much as $15,000 per person for passage to Guam, $20,000 to Mexico and $30,000 to the continental United States, observers here say. In return, the immigrants enter into modern-day contracts of indentured servitude, working in underground economies earning substandard U.S. wages to repay their transportation debts. Still, the money they earn illegally in the United States-- even if it's $1 an hour--is more than they can earn here as farmers. The smugglers control almost every aspect of the immigrants' lives once they arrive at their destination. They also wield enormous power in the immigrants' hometowns in case someone rebels, tries to flee or fails to pay back the debt, according to Chinese and U.S. observers. destination guam While residents of Fujian have followed family members and friends to New York City's Chinatown since the 1980s and to work in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands' garment industry, observers say it's only recently that immigrants have started washing ashore in large numbers on Guam. One reason Guam has become a gateway is because immigration officials in larger, more desirable destinations have clamped down on those entry points, according to a writer in Fuzhou, the provincial capital. Lin Yan, who has written about emigration for Chinese newspapers, said smugglers are eyeing lightly protected areas where they can slip in unnoticed. ``Now, it's not easy to go to Japan and New York. So many Fujianese will go to Pacific Islands. But they don't know where they're going,'' he said through a translator. ``Their main purpose is to leave.'' Since last summer, Lin said, U.S. and Japanese authorities have repatriated between 20 and 30 groups of Fujian residents. A chinese citizen is fined, but not heavily, after returning from an immigration attempt, he said. [From the Pacific Daily News, Mar. 23, 1999] Chinese Nationals Wait for Day in Court (By Frieda Bush) It could be weeks before 97 Chinese nationals apprehended early Sunday morning will get their day in court. Included in the group of suspected illegal immigrants are six women and 12 young males, said Robert Johnson, acting officer in charge of the Immigration and Naturalization Service on Guam. The boys, who said they are minors, will visit a dentist today to help determine their age, Johnson said, but it is thought they are in their late teens. INS and police officials initially reported 95 were apprehended Sunday. Officials were unavailable last night to resolve the discrepancy. This latest group is the largest number of suspected illegal immigrants captured on Guam at one time, Johnson said. And it's the sheer volume of interviews the INS is required to conduct that will keep them from getting a rapid trial. Each person must be interviewed through an interpreter, Johnson said. As of yesterday, there were only three people on island qualified to do the interviews. Two of those interpreters flew in from Hawaii yesterday. The suspected illegal immigrants are from Fujian province in southern China, said Joe Galoski, INS supervisory agent. Their rusty, 120-foot ship ran aground on a reef off Agat early Sunday morning. They were apprehended after a police officer found 32 people who had left the ship and come ashore. In the meantime, the Chinese nationals will continue to cool their heels at the Department of Corrections facility in Mangilao. The $97-per-person per day cost of boarding the men and women there ultimately will be borne by the U.S. Immigration service, Galoski said. All of the 97 people in custody are expected to ask for asylum, Johnson said. That means asylum interviews must be flown in from California to determine whether the men and women have a ``credible fear'' of being harmed if they return to China. ``The initial level is easily met,'' Johnson said. After clearing the initial hurdle, immigrants must go before an immigration judge and prove they need to stay in the United States. The process, Johnson said, is long and complicated. ``But it's been my experience that most will (eventually) be ineligible.'' ____ [From the Pacific Daily News, Mar. 24, 1999] Underground Trip Starts on Guam (By Brad Wong) (Editor's note. Pacific Daily News reporter Brad Wong has reported from China on the conditions that have led hundreds of residents of Fujian province to immigrate illegally to Guam. In this second of three parts, he describes the underground economies that support the immigrants. Look for the third and final installment of the story in Thursday, Pacific Daily News.) Fuqing, China--Peter Kwong, an Asian-American Studies professor at Hunter College in New York City, is the author of ``Forbidden Workers,'' a book about illegal immigration, such as Guam has experienced in the past year. No matter the entry point, established underground economies absorb the workers once they land, he said. ``Smugglers wouldn't send people there if they don't think they can get jobs and pay them back,'' Kwong said in a telephone interview from New York City. It's not an idea,'' he said. ``It's something that already has been worked out.'' In its apparent status as a new gateway, Guam joins Mexico and the Caribbean as smaller entry points for Chinese immigrants en route to larger U.S. mainland cities, where there are more opportunities and better support networks. fueling a growing economy The money the immigrant generate for smugglers, Chinese banks and all parties involved help buttress Fujian's rapidly-growing economy, Kwong said. In New York alone, he said Fujianese immigrants who work in small businesses, restaurants and the garment industry, paid smugglers $200 million in transportation debt in 1998--five times what Hong Kong, Taiwanese, Japanese, U.S. and European companies invested in the province during the same year, according to Professor Sun Shaozhen of the Fujian Teachers' University. The underground economies that keep the immigrants working once they arrive in the United States have sprouted up in Atlanta, Los Angeles and in cities along the East Coast according to Kwong. ``It's spreading very far and very wide,'' he said. The Fujianese immigrants arriving illegally by boat on Guam illustrate a philosophical dilemma; people trying to improve their standing in life--but contracting with organized criminals and breaking U.S. law to do so. Provincial characteristics, geography and history all have combined to fuel this phenomenon, Sun said. Fujianese historically have been courageous, adventurous and daring, he said, referring to the lyrics of a local folk song that he says many have taken to heart: ``If you love the struggle, you will be the winner.'' According to Sun, acceptance of struggle as a way to economic salvation best explains why so many Fujianese risk their lives and attempt to emigrate over seas, often in crowded and unsafe boats. Lin Yan, who has written about emigration for Chinese newspapers, tells of a Fujianese woman who traveled about 900 miles to China's southwest Yumnan province and crossed the borders into Burma. After making her way to Cambodia, she departed from Laos by boat to Mexico. She lived with Mexican Indians and eventually climbed through the mountains into the United States, where authorities apprehended her. circumstances, dreams and history A shortage of arable land in Fujian also plays a part in the emigration. Mountains cover 90 percent of the densely populated province, leaving little room for farmers to grow crops. And even if they are able to grow produce, many peasants are hard-pressed to earn enough. The average Fujianese farmer's salary is about $33 per month, an increase from the $2 per month that a peasant earned in the early 1980s, but still too little to support families on, some growers said. Western movies and television programs, like the popular beach show ``Baywatch,'' also influence residents' perceptions of life in the United States. ``They think America is so free and rich,'' Sun said. ``The cities are modern and the lifestyle is so relaxed.'' Emigration has been part of Fujianese history since the Ming and Qing dynasties and dates back at least 300 years, Sun and Lin said. Famine and poor living conditions historically have prompted the Fujianese to leave the province, and many former residents of the province have helped develop Taiwan, Singapore, Southeast Asia and the United States. Some Fujianese have moved as far away as Hungary, Poland and Cyprus, according to Sun. Those who have struck it rich in the United States and return for visits are seen as success stories that others want to emulate. And while some residents realize that life abroad can be difficult, others focus on the money--without examining how it was earned. ``Nobody tells them that they had a miserable life,'' Lin said. ``(Locals just) say, `Oh, you've earned a lot of money.' '' ____ [Pacific Daily News, Mar. 25, 1999] `They Just Want To Change Their Life' (By Brad Wong) Fuqing, China.--From this province, there are three main departure points along 300 miles of jagged shoreline nicked by inlets and peppered with tiny islands; Fuqing, Changle and Pingtan, on an island with many boats. [[Page 5770]] Peasants with little education and few opportunities to work in rural factories and small businesses are most likely to leave, according to Sun Shaozhen, a professor at Fujian Teachers' University. They sometimes think a Pacific island is part of the continental United States, he said. Would-be emigrants can contract through an employment office that recruits people for overseas work or talk directly to the smugglers, said Lin Yan, who has written about emigration for Chinese newspapers. Because family members often rely on the same network of contacts, residents often follow one another to the same destination. Families and entire villages have gone to California, Hawaii and New York. That pattern also may explain why so many people from Fuqing and Fujian show up on Guam. The long and ragged shoreline makes it easy for smugglers to hide boats and people without being noticed, Sun and Lin said. The government doesn't have enough patrol boats to stop them, Sun said. no way out Once a Chinese citizen enters into a contract with smugglers, it initiates a cycle that is difficult to escape according to Peter Kwong, an Asian-American studies professor at Hunter College in New York and author of ``Forbidden Workers,'' a book about illegal immigration. If the peasants don't repay the transportation debt, the smugglers may intimidate them or their family members with threats of burning their homes or kidnapping their children, Sun and Lin said. Many immigrants believe they can eventually pay off their contracts and earn their freedom, Kwong said. But the reality is different. ``It's simply you're making money mainly for the smugglers and these greedy employers,'' he said. ``If you pay off all your debt, you're still in the same trap. You're not going to be able to learn the language. You won't be assimilated into the mainstream.'' Smugglers and employers know that immigrants want freedom in the United States. So smugglers will raise transportation fees and employers will lower an immigrant's wages to keep the cycle working to their advantage, Kwong said. Kwong, Coast Guard and Immigration and Naturalization Service officials said they don't know how many people from Fujian province might succeed in entering the United States illegally through Guam or what happens to those who do. Kwong said such immigrants often succeeded in the past by working hard, saving money and buying restaurants or garment factories. But the explosive increase in the number of people attempting illegal immigration and the high costs of passage to the United States or elsewhere--$15,000 to Guam, $20,000 to Mexico or $30,000 to the continental United States-- combine to keep many immigrants in underground service- sector, restaurant and construction jobs that pay less than minimum wage, Kwong said. Even if law enforcement officials arrest the immigrants and repatriate them, they are still bound to pay off the contract for the overseas passage. And the debt, crushing especially by Chinese standards, essentially bars an individual from returning to earn an average salary. So they often look to the sea again for escape. ``It's impossible to earn that amount of money in China, so they try again,'' Lin said. While repatriated immigrants used to face prison time during the 1960s and 1970s, today the Chinese government fines them for trying to leave the country, Lin and Sun said. Sun estimates the fine at between $300 and $500. The Chinese government has sentenced smugglers to prison, he said. A growing china Ironically, the immigrants' arrival on Guam comes in the midst of an aggressive push by China to modernize and grow economically. Before the Asian financial crisis in 1997, the country experienced double-digit economic growth this decade, surpassing the United States' growth rate and dazzling business and Wall Street analysts. China also has weathered the Asian economic turmoil better than South Korea, Japan and Thailand, though it has felt the sting and residents say business has fallen off. Since China opened its doors to the West in the late 1970s, international investors have poured billions of dollars into the country, particularly into small- and medium-sized factories in Fujian. Since the 1980s, Taiwanese business executives--including many whose families came from Fujian--have funneled $224 billion in investments in this coastal province, according to Sun. U.S. fast-food giant McDonald's has planted its golden arches in this coastal area of about 200,000 people, and gleaming new hotels clad in marble and glass cater to the business classes from Hong Kong and Taiwan. New concrete apartments house residents, and modern buses shuttle them between cities. But as new buildings continue to go up, peasants from this area and poorer neighboring provinces line Fuqing's streets, sitting on stools and waiting to shine shoes for 12 to 24 cents a pair. While this coastal city develops, the surrounding countryside and the region's mountainous inland are still waiting for infusions of wealth. In many inland areas, peasants live in wooden huts with single light bulbs hanging from the ceilings. Their narrow rows of crops are crowded in between railroad tracks and rocky, unfarmable mountains. why so crowded? In part, Guam and the other Pacific Islands that are among the new destinations for these modern-day Chinese immigrants are feeling the impact of the large work force envisioned by former Chairman Mao Tse-tung. Mao, a peasant himself, pushed for a large population during the Cultural Revolution from 1966 to 1970 so he could have a formidable work force to build his socialist state. Sun believes that if peasants can pool enough money together to send a family member overseas or anticipate that they can raise the necessary amount, they should invest it in a growing China. ``It's foolish, because if you have $30,000, you can do some business here,'' he said. Still, emigrating to the United States in search of a better life remains a goal for many. Many peasants, especially in Fujian's mountainous regions, live in brick huts that are constantly cold during the winter. They dream about having a warm room--and they'll do anything to get more money. ``It's hard to imagine,'' Lin said. ``The poorest try their best to become rich, so they do their best to become a foreigner,'' Sun said. ``They just want to change their life conditions.'' That quest for wealth and a better life consumes even the better off among Fuqing's residents. Even the sedan driver, the one with the thinning hair and the daughter who can speak English, hands out a business card with a phone number where he can be reached. On the card next to his name in Chinese characters is a picture of a shiny new sports car. ____ [From the Pacific Daily News, Mar. 24, 1999] Chinese Detainees Start Asylum Process (Hiroshi Hiyama) Dozens of suspected illegal Chinese immigrants caught on a boat off Agat last weekend will go through expedited immigration proceedings because they hadn't entered the United States when they were apprehended. Immigration officials apprehended a total of 97 suspected illegal Chinese immigrants and smugglers Sunday. They caught 95 in the morning, and Guam police apprehended two others in the afternoon. Dental examinations conducted yesterday indicated that nine of the suspected illegal immigrants are minors. The youths will be sent to a juvenile detention facility on the U.S. mainland, said Robert Johnson, acting officer in charge of the Immigration and Naturalization Service's Guam office. A dozen people originally claimed they were minors, Johnson said. All 88 adults will continue to stay at the Department of Corrections in Mangilao, where federal officials are interviewing them for possible indictment. Six are suspected smugglers. Six women have been housed in the women's facility at the Department of Corrections, Johnson said. The suspected illegal immigrants were apprehended after their rusty fishing boat ran aground on a reef off Agat sometime between Saturday night and early Sunday morning. Of the 97 people on the ship, 40 left the ship to come ashore, while 50 remained on board. Those who arrived on shore are suspected of having made illegal entry into the United States and will face regular deportation and asylum processes, Johnson said. The other 57 people, whom U.S. law enforcement officials apprehended while they were still on the boat, will go through expedited removal procedure, Johnson said. They will see federal asylum officers before they appear before an immigration judge for further proceedings. The overwhelming majority of the immigrants are expected to apply for asylum, Johnson said. It's not clear how long the suspects will stay at the Department of Corrections. It costs $97.71 per person to house people at the department's detention center, but the federal government doesn't have the money to move them to mainland federal facilities or to pay for them to stay on Guam, Johnson said. The government of Guam has made a commitment not to release the suspected illegal immigrants. Gov. Carl Gutierrez is working with federal attorneys and immigration officials to come up with ways to pay the costs of caring for the detainees, said Ginger Cruz, Gutierrez's spokeswoman. As of yesterday morning, the INS had 166 illegal immigrants stayed at the Department of Corrections, Johnson said. The detainees include some who have overstayed their visas, Johnson said. Angel Sablan, director of corrections, said his facility already is crowded with local inmates and it doesn't have space to hold additional federal detainees. ____________________