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| Sharp rise in Chinese arrests at U.S. border |
| 2009-10-06 |
| Amid an overall drop in arrests of illegal immigrants crossing the U.S-Mexico border, an intriguing anomaly has cast a new light on human smuggling: Authorities report an almost tenfold spike in the number of Chinese people caught in the southern Arizona desert, the busiest smuggling corridor on the international line. The Border Patrol in the Tucson sector has arrested at least 261 Chinese border-crossers this year, compared with an annual average of 32 during the last four years, officials said. "They are the main [non-Mexicans] we catch," said field operations supervisor Juventino Pacheco of the patrol's international liaison unit in Nogales. "Lately we have been catching more Chinese than Central Americans." |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #8 Most of these guys from China are gonna say that they are here looking for work and it'll probably be true. But you know there will be a certain percentage of them who will be agents of the Chinese government. My guess is that they're looking for work. Non-covert agent runners probably have diplomatic immunity, whereas covert agent runners probably have business or journalistic cover. It's well-nigh impossible for a Chinese national to get a visa to the US without $100K in the bank or company sponsorship related to a specific business transaction. And the traditional smuggling route involved a month on the high seas, followed by a transfer at sea to smaller boats - $60K to $70K is the going rate. Why spend a month in a shipping container with a bucket for a porta-john, when you can fly to Mexico for $1000 and slip across the border with the help of your local neighborhood coyote? The cool thing about Mexico is you don't have to rely on mainland Chinese gangsters who charge inflated rates to help you across, and can go after your family back home if you can't pay. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2009-10-06 22:55 |
| #7 Most of these guys from China are gonna say that they are here looking for work and it'll probably be true. But you know there will be a certain percentage of them who will be agents of the Chinese government. |
| Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 2009-10-06 15:23 |
| #6 Sorry for error. Read Chinese for chones. Chones means underwear in Spanish - which was definitely not my intention. Sticky keyboard methinks...too much eating while typing leads to crumbs between the keys... |
| Posted by: borgboy 2009-10-06 13:55 |
| #5 History repeats itself. Similar event occured in the first decades of the 20th century. Eventualy, "exclusionary acts" were passed in the USA; while Mexican President Calles (then Governor of Sonora) literally kicked out all Asians (then known as Orientals) from Northen Mexico = a Judenrein type of thing years before Adolf took power in the "Fatherland". Chones were accused by the Mexicans of spreading dread diseases; operating gambling and narcotic rackets; of being being "too good" at business; and of racial defiling the Mexican "Cosmic Race" (as it was then named by the then Minister for Public Education - and later Adolf admirer - Vascancelos. Does all this sound familiar? Years later then President Calles was photographed with a copy of Mein Kampf in his hands as he boarded a plane. |
| Posted by: borgboy 2009-10-06 13:53 |
| #4 America, or even private individuals, could effectively make the Mexican border tight as a drum head against non-Mexican illegals in a simple way: put out a bounty on non-Mexican illegals, payable to Mexicans. Simply put, a Mexican in Mexico makes a phone call that some non-Mexicans are trying to cross the border. They payoffs are based on how valuable the non-Mexicans are. In exchange for the phone call tip, they get a coded number. When they present that number to US customs, they are given cash in return, but only if we catch the crosser or crossers. For example, just ordinary Chinese are maybe worth $20 a head. But a serious Arab terrorist could be worth $50,000 as the "grand prize". Such sums are petty, North of the border, but in northern Mexico that is the big bucks. That border would be air tight against non-Mexicans. If you make it clear that it applies to non-Mexicans only, there would be no problem at all, as far as Mexicans are concerned. They might even take money to smuggle them across, then double cross them for more money. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2009-10-06 11:55 |
| #3 How come we don't see anything about, "Sharp rise in Middle-Easterners arrests at U.S. border?" |
| Posted by: BigEd 2009-10-06 11:37 |
| #2 Yeah. I know a snakehead in Fujian. His idea was for me to teach English for his customers for a while, then go to America and meet them after they crossed the border and then escort them to their new homes. No thanks, jerkwad. |
| Posted by: gromky 2009-10-06 05:07 |
| #1 The headline for this article is a bit ambiguous: "Chinese arrests" -- for a second, I thought the Chinese are now the ones arresting our illegal border crossers. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2009-10-06 02:16 |