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Eve Savory reports for CBC TV.

Jo Mrozewski reports for CBC Radio.


CBC TELEVISION
COVERAGE:
CLIP: Sasa Petricic reports on the debate over smuggled migrants.

A primer on immigration policy from Norman Hermant

CBC RADIO
COVERAGE:
ON AIR: Cross-Country Checkup, Sun: Are Canadians suckers to let in illegal migrants?

Second immigrant group in custody, third may be on the way
WebPosted Fri Aug 13 18:23:28 1999

PORT HARDY, B.C. - Another group of Chinese immigrants is in custody at CFB Esquimalt after the second ship carrying human cargo was apprehended Wednesday and there are reports a third ship may also be headed for the B.C. coast.

  • RELATED: What are your thoughts on illegal migrants? Send in your letters.


Canada isn't the only country trying to deal with immigrant smuggling.

U.S. immigration officials were questioning Friday the crew of a ship in Savannah, Ga., after 132 Chinese men were found hiding on board.

Authorities had to cut through a welded section of the ship to get to the men.


Accompanied by RCMP and immigration officers, the illegal immigrants plucked off a beach on the Queen Charlotte Islands arrived Friday at the Vancouver Island military base where the earlier group of smuggled refugee claimants had stayed.

The base is their home while officials identify them and discover why they were being smuggled into Canada.

Like the previous group, many are expected to eventually claim refugee status, after a series of immigration hearings.

The two vessels have brought more than two hundred illegal immigrants to Canada's shores in the last month and a Chinese diplomat blames Canada's lax laws for encouraging illegal passage.

Ping Huan, the consul general at the Chinese Embassy in Ottawa, says he was surprised when Immigration Canada released some of the people who arrived in boats off the B.C. coast last month. Word of their freedom quickly travels back to China, he said.

Meanwhile Friday, the Chinese newspaper Ming Pao reported that a third ship is on its way from Fujian, the same Chinese province where the first two illegal immigrant ships originated.

Ming Pao says the smuggling route passes through Japan and Guam on its way to Canada. A Vancouver reporter for the paper said the ship could arrive by September.

There was no official confirmation of the third ship on its way to the B.C. coast.

As for the second ship, it held about 130 men, women and children -- and one dog. They were dropped into the water Wednesday, and picked up shortly after by military and immigration officials who'd been trailing the smuggling ship.

Police said Thursday they found four passengers who had run into the woods after they were dropped off and had waded to shore.

The Korean ship which had carried the group tried to escape to sea but was caught by an RCMP boat. The eight crew members were taken into custody and face charges under the Immigration Act.


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