May 4, 2000 |
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Canadians charged in migrant smuggling
Scarborough father, daughters implicated in `sting' operation
By Kathleen Kenna and Nicholas Keung Toronto Star Staff
Reporters
WASHINGTON - Five Canadians,
including a Toronto family of three, have been charged with being
part of a ring smuggling migrants from China into the United States.
After a four-month sting called ``Operation
Squeeze Play,'' set up by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization
Service (INS) to stem the tide of illegal migrants from China's
Fujian province, the Canadians and two Americans were arrested by
INS investigators in Detroit late Tuesday night and early yesterday.
Hip Chuen Chow of Scarborough and his daughters Jennifer, 22, and
Ellis, 21, face alien smuggling charges.
They were released from custody after posting a $25,000 (U.S.)
bond and are to appear in a Detroit court on May 22.
Tong ``Thomas'' Choe of Toronto and Hyo Young ``Peter'' Park of
Winnipeg are to appear in court in Detroit today on charges of
conspiring to smuggle aliens and bribing a public official.
Park, who is alleged to have acted as an organizer of the
smuggling ring, faces a second bribery charge.
Two Americans from Pennsylvania and two people from Fujian
province also are indicted on smuggling conspiracy charges.
The alleged smugglers
paid $260,000 (U.S.) in bribes to an undercover INS agent to smooth
the passage of migrants from Fujian to Detroit, according to a
nine-page indictment filed yesterday in U.S. District Court.
Posing as a ``corrupt immigration inspector,'' senior immigration
official Ronald Katz met Park, Choe and other alleged smugglers
several times at a Detroit airport motel, where he was handed 425
Chinese passports and cash.
In return, Katz was to put American visas into the passports.
`We all want to see
transnational criminal organizations that are trafficking in
people - human smuggling akin to modern-day slavery - we want
to see it ended.' |
- Elinor Caplan Immigration
minister
| Between February and
May, the group is alleged to have used the doctored passports to get
16 Chinese citizens into the U.S. through the Detroit airport,
according to Gina Vitrano, spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney's
Office.
Their whereabouts are unknown.
``The Canadians were middlemen,'' Vitrano said.
``They would give the money to an INS inspector posing as a
corrupt immigration inspector for visas for the Chinese.''
It's alleged Chow ``offered his daughters as guides'' who would
walk the Chinese migrants through the Detroit airport, Vitrano said.
An unnamed person involved in the INS sting travelled from the
U.S. to China in the last week of March to meet unnamed leaders of
the alleged smuggling operation in Fujian province, the indictment
reveals.
The leaders were so encouraged by the apparent co-operation of
the ``corrupt'' INS officer that they made a videotape to convince
other American officials to join the scheme, the indictment says.
Afterward, the alleged smugglers gave the undercover agent ``a
tour of a passport office, from which Chinese exit visas for the
aliens were to be issued.''
Vitrano said the video will be used at trial.
At Chow's home in the Sheppard and Warden Ave. area, his wife and
three other daughters were shocked yesterday to receive news of the
arrests from a reporter.
``I just talked to my husband this morning and all he said was
they would not be home as scheduled,'' said Chow's
Cantonese-speaking wife, who refused to give her name.
``I am so shocked. This is impossible. Why did you create such
claims to defame my family,'' said the petite woman in her 40s,
before asking the reporter to leave.
But a girl who identified herself as Chow's daughter confirmed
that he and two daughters were in Detroit to ``see friends and
relatives.''
Neighbours said the Chows are private people who have lived in
the Scarborough neighbourhood for at least 13 years.
``They appear to be very shy and don't really socialize a lot
with other neighbours.
``The husband never says `hi' to anyone,'' said a neighbour who
has lived there for three years.
Chow ran a grocery store in Toronto's Chinatown until recently,
and his wife teaches piano at home, according to the neighbours.
The couple have five girls - the youngest is about 12, and two
are in university.
``This is unbelievable,'' said another neighbour. ``They just
seem to be an ordinary family to me; they don't live a flashy
lifestyle.''
In Detroit, U.S. authorities won't divulge just how far-reaching
they suspect this alleged smuggling venture might be.
And they refused comment yesterday on allegations that the
Chinese government is involved in smuggling people into Canada and
the U.S.
Nor would they comment on published reports that Chinese police
and a high-ranking military officer, ostensibly a general, are
implicated, too.
Any involvement of Chinese government officials would fly in the
face of assurances Beijing gave last week to Canadian Immigration
Minister Elinor Caplan that China was doing everything possible to
stem alien traffic to North America.
The conspiracy would also seem to confirm fears that another wave
of Chinese migrants could appear on Canadian shores this summer.
In Ottawa, Caplan hailed the U.S. arrests.
``I was very pleased to see actions taken on the U.S. side of the
border,'' she told The Star's Allan Thompson. ``We take actions on
our side when we have enough information to make arrests.''
``We all want to see transnational criminal organizations that
are trafficking in people - human smuggling akin to modern-day
slavery - we want to see it ended,'' Caplan said.
She admitted Canadian authorities were not directly involved in
this particular investigation, but said Canada and the U.S.
routinely co-operate on such matters.
In the U.S., INS Commissioner Doris Meissner said in a statement
yesterday: ``Criminal organizations responsible for trafficking in
human beings have been dealt another major setback.''
People convicted of involvement in smuggling rings face top
sentences of 10 to 15 years and fines ranging from $250,000 to
$600,000 (U.S.)
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Eves hints
at waterfront cash
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