Ten teenage Chinese migrants wailed and sobbed during an immigration
hearing Monday that ordered they stay in custody until next week when an
adjudicator decides if they will be deported.
The hearing was postponed after four of the migrants told an adjudicator
they were younger than they originally indicated.
Four of the girls originally said they were 18 years old. But on Monday
morning, they told the adjudicator they were between 15 and 17 years
old, which means someone must be appointed to represent them.
The girls arrived in British Columbia illegally from China, then made
their way to southwestern Ontario, where they were found in the back of
a van near Wallaceburg last week.
Police believe the plan was to smuggle them across the border into the
U.S. Two people have been arrested for smuggling.
Immigration officials say the girls are not co-operating. They claim to
speak no English but immigration lawyers have a confiscated diary
written in English.
The adjudicator ordered all of the girls to stay in custody until
another hearing next week.
The group is from the Chinese province of Fujian, the same origin of 590
migrants who arrived off the B.C. coast on four broken-down boats this
summer.
