WHITE ROCK, B.C. - Canadian and American police agencies say they're watching British Columbia's southern border for any sign that five missing Chinese migrants are on their way to the United States.

• INDEPTH: Chinese Immigration
  

Warrants were issued last week for seven of the migrants who failed to show up for scheduled appointments.

Two have since been found.

Canadian law enforcement officials say often, Chinese refugee claimants who don't show up for their hearings are smuggled into the U.S. with the help of organized gangs.

B.C.'s long, undefended frontier with the state of Washington is a favourite gateway for the people smugglers. Now police say they're taking special steps to crack down on those trying to sneak across the border.

American and Canadian police are now casting a net around certain high traffic spots along the frontier.

The U.S. Border Patrol chief in nearby Blaine, Washington, is Carry James. He says the intense cooperation has paid off with 166 arrests in the past year.

Most have been for smuggling drugs and firearms, but the net has also caught 58 illegal migrants trying to get to the U.S.

The numbers for the first year may be pleasing but police say they're not kidding themselves. The obstacles to catching migrants crossing the border are formidable.

Border authorities say they were expecting some of the Chinese migrants would disappear after they were released.

And if past patterns hold, they suspect its only a matter of time before more of the migrants test their new border enforcement team, by trying to enter the U.S. illegally.