VANCOUVER - A group of Chinese migrants has landed in Prince George.

They will be held at the local correctional centre, until their refugee claims are processed.

This afternoon, one by one the migrants were led off the chartered jet in handcuffs.

As they stepped down the stairs in to the blustery northern interior wind, police and jail guards waited for them below.

They were huddled into a police bus and vans - men separated from women.

As the motorcade led them off the tarmac, the men wave at the television cameras, their wrists still shackled together.

For the next few months the 157 migrants will be calling the old Prince George jail their home.

The last time this maximum security facility was used, it was for a movie set.

Corrections officials expect to hold the migrants here for at least three months.

Members of the local Chinese community are helping out with Mandarin translation.

Immigration officials will be holding refugee hearings right in the jail.

They're expected to begin as early as Monday.