Posted on 01/18/2005 9:50:03 PM PST by Coleus
They were discovered Saturday night when a crane operator at the Port of Los Angeles saw three men climbing out of a container, said Lt. Titus Smith of the Los Angeles Port Police.
The suspected illegal immigrants, including 28 men and four male teenagers, were being questioned by federal authorities, said Virginia Kice, spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. All appeared to be in good health after the 10-day journey.
The 40-foot containers had little more than food, water, sleeping bags and battery-powered fans and arrived aboard the Panamanian-flagged NYK Athena. Authorities don't believe the ship's crew knew about the stowaways.
Federal agents said a container manifest listed its contents as "clothing." One migrant said he paid $3,000 for passage, although smuggling fees from China typically range from $30,000 to $60,000, officials said.
The group will be held at a federal detention center pending an immigration hearing.
"This is a very large number. Most of the times, we get a couple of people here and there, but we haven't found so many for some time," Smith said.
The number of Chinese nationals smuggled into the country through Los Angeles-area ports has dropped off in recent years, officials said.
The discovery marks the first group of smuggled immigrants uncovered at the port since February last year, when 19 were found inside a container aboard a Cypriot-flagged vessel called the Ningbo. Two Hong Kong brothers were later indicted for allegedly plotting to smuggle immigrants into port.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
"Thirty-two Chinese immigrants were found inside two cargo containers aboard a ship arriving from Hong Kong"
They must have missed the memo about Bush's Facist America.
After which time they will be given housing, food stamp vouchers, driver's licenses, health care and residents' tuition rate at state colleges. Not bad.
They only came to do the jobs the Mescans wouldn't do.
hold on a second .... 32 men in a shipping container. For at least 2 weeks? average half a gallon of water a day? plus food plus all the human waste that is produced amonge 32 people. They either were in that container a couple days or there should be one hell of a mess. Does not pass the smell test to me.
10 days and you're talking about resourceful people who come from a country where the average person lives in dilapidated apartments not much more suitable for life than a shipping container.
Send them all home.
Send them all to David Dreier's house for a job.
Ping
NEW POLL UP!
Do you believe the United States can win the war on terror without control of its borders?
Yes 4% 83 votes
No 96% 1982 votes
Total: 2065 votes
http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/lou.dobbs.tonight/
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