Smuggling Human Cargo
When a Seattle-bound cargo ship docked, immigration officials were tipped off that it contained illegal Chinese immigrants. But what they didn't expect were the three dead bodies and 15 emaciated men they found inside. They had lived for two weeks on rotting vegetables and crackers.
"This is a human tragedy and it's a crime," declared Robert Coleman of the INS.
Smuggling human cargo into the United States and Canada is also a growing trend, reports CBS News Correspondent Sandra Hughes. Tuesday morning in Seattle, 19 more illegal Chinese stowaways were found on board another container ship. Government officials cite at least a dozen such arrivals this year.
"The smugglers are preying on people and taking advantage in trying to figure every new tactic they can," said Attorney General Janet Reno. "We want to try to be ahead of them."
Though some containers are modified, conditions are still unsafe and unsanitary. Ten to 20 Chinese cram into a 40-foot holder. Air comes through holes in the canvas top. Toilets are buckets. The entire trip can be made in the dark.
The immigrants usually start out in Hong Kong and pay $50,000 to smugglers called "Snakeheads."
Once they arrive in America, they're put on the so-called Underground Railroad to Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York, where they work to pay off their debts.
"Women could be forced into prostitution, men can be used in the rackets as enforcers and into hard labor doing construction in Chinatown," according to Ken Elwood of the INS.
Still, they come.
"They are thinking about their children and their grandchildren," said Professor David Bachman of the University of Washington. "They are thinking about the prospects of what their life would be like in this country versus what it would be like in China."
But more and more are getting caught, since the government stepped up interdiction efforts. After a brief hearing on political status, most are sent home.
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