LEGAL LANGUAGE SERVICES

Illegal Aliens -- A Global Problem

August 2000

Recently there were two immigration stories in the news that focused attention on the plights of those whose attempts to immigrate are difficult and sometimes deadly.

One is a storybook tale of the princess who falls in love with a commoner and must hide her identity to be with him. The other is the tragic tale of  people who die in their attempts at reaching freedom.

The happily ending love story is of  Princess Mariam Al Khalifa who came to the States using false documents.  Her purpose was clear and noble; she came for the love for her American boyfriend, Lance Cpl. Jason Johnson. The two are married now.

The unhappy tale involves 58 Chinese nationals who hid themselves in a sealed  truck and tried to enter Britain, but they were unlucky. They died in the intense heat of a truck which became their coffin, the victims of uncaring smugglers.  Although their tales are different, both royalty and non-royalty have something in common - desperately seeking to immigrate using illegal means.

Undocumented immigrants use various devises to escape their own countries for varying reasons. Some act for love, just as the princess did, or for political asylum as the Chinese did, but most of them are seeking a better life.

Illegal immigration, a troublesome international issue with a long history, has again dominated world attention after the 58 Chinese were found dead at the port of Dover. This human tragedy not only shocked Europe, but also the rest of world, including China. About two weeks after the horrible discovery,  INS Commissioner Doris Meissner flew to China with the issue of human smuggling as one of her top agenda items.

At almost the same instant, Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji went to visit Europe, calling for international efforts to combat "people-trafficking" gangs. After a six-nation tour, the Premier said that China would work with the European Union to fight illegal human smuggling. He called the Dover tragedy a result of "rampant activities of international criminal groups".

Official Chinese figures show that 10,000 illegal aliens were caught in 1999, 80 percent of which were from Fujian. The state media also said that more than 800 smugglers were arrested. Now Britain has become a hot target for illegal aliens since the United States and Canada have strengthened anti-human smuggling campaigns and have established cooperation with China.

It was reported that each year there are about 20 to 40 million undocumented immigrants worldwide. In the United States, which is the most desirable destination for immigrants, there are more than five million undocumented aliens according to the present estimates, half of them from nearby countries.

Illegal immigration has been regarded as a profitable business. It is estimated that, globally, there are more than 50 organized crime groups engaged in people trafficking activities, charging about $27,000 for each person. The price for Chinese passage to the United States, the highest among the world, had been raised from $30,000 a person a few years ago to about $50,000 as of the year 2000.  Profit from human smuggling currently rivals the illegal profits from drug trafficking.

Statistics show that before the 1990s, illegal immigrants usually tried to get a visa or passport from a poor country to countries neighboring their ultimate destination.   From these neighboring countries they found illegal ways to enter the countries of their final choice. But after 1990s, the routes for human trafficking became predominately changing from land to sea-based smuggling. With the tighter law enforcement and greater vigilance, smugglers are using more varied and sophisticated methods for conveying illegal aliens into the United States.

INS Commissioner Meissner noted that the crude but common method of packing immigrants into decrepit boats for long voyages, which often ended in nighttime landings along the U.S. coastline, has all but disappeared. China, the European Union and some European countries now recognize illegal immigration an increasingly serious international crime. Countries are working together at long last, to create international solutions. There is some hope that a political accord will bear some fruit in the future.