ESQUIMALT -- Immigration Canada plans to deport back to China more than half the 131 members of a second boatload of migrants smuggled into B.C. last week.

Spokesman Jim Redmond said yesterday that senior immigration officers determined during interviews that 77 of the migrants are not eligible to file refugee claims.

Exclusion orders have been obtained against the 77 -- the first step in removing them from Canada.

"We will act quickly," said Redmond, manager of Victoria's immigration office. "The reason they are being sent back is because they are inadmissible to Canada.

"From our analysis, it appears the primary reason for coming to Canada is economic. There's an interest in coming to Canada to work.

"They're indicating to us that they're here to make money. And more money than they can make in their country of origin."

In addition to obtaining the 77 exclusion orders, Redmond said Immigration Canada has decided that 10 other people aboard the boat are eligible to make refugee claims. One adult male is still being interviewed.

Most of the 18 "enforcers" who were on the ship to protect the interests of the smugglers are among those who will be sent back to China.

Six children who came with their parents are among those immigration will seek to deport. The fate of the other 43 children remains undetermined, as it involves joint decisions with B.C.'s ministry for children and families.

Yesterday's announcement drew suspicion about the role of public pressure in the decision-making process. The arrival in B.C. on July 20 of a first boatload of 123 would-be refugees was met with skepticism.

By the time the second boatload turned up last week, politicians, radio hosts and immigration critics alike were calling for an overhaul of Canada's refugee determination process.

Here in Victoria, where resources were stretched to the limit by the first migrants, an angry mood has set in.

"GO HOME" was the headline in the Victoria Times Colonist Sunday, with an accompanying reader poll showing that 97 per cent of respondents favour immediate deportation.

But Redmond dismissed suggestions that immigration was buckling under public sentiment. He said examinations of the two boatloads differed drastically.

"We ask questions about why they're coming to Canada. Is there anything they fear in China? Is there anything they fear in going back to China?" he said. "I can't tell you why, but in the initial exams [with the first group], all but two said, 'We're here to be refugees.'

"With the second group, they indicated that they were put on the boat, they were going to what they referred to as the Golden Mountain, and they were going to work."

Refugee eligibility is limited to those who face persecution for one of five things, according to the Geneva Convention: Race, religion, ethnicity, political beliefs or membership in a particular social group. So-called economic refugees cannot apply.

Lawyers for the second group of migrants complained on the weekend that immigration officials have overstepped their bounds. Peter Golden, who heads a team of 10 lawyers involved in the case, said officials restricted access to legal aid and told the migrants outright that they don't qualify as refugees -- even if they face punishment on returning home.

Redmond said yesterday that under the terms of the Immigration Act, illegal immigrants are not entitled to legal counsel during initial interviews with investigators. Since the exclusion orders were obtained, the 77 migrants involved have been advised that they can speak to a lawyer, and many have chosen to do so.

Meanwhile, Redmond said, immigration will seek to detain all 131 people for seven more days, at hearings to be held tomorrow.