About the author: Ko-lin Chin is an associate professor in the School of Criminal Justice at Rutgers University, Newark. He is author of a number of books in both English and Chinese, including "Chinatown Gangs: Extortion, Enterprise and Ethnicity," which was published in 1999 and "Chinese Subculture and Criminality: Non-Traditional Crime Groups in America, published in 1990.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1, Leaving for the Beautiful Country
Chapter 2, In Search of the Beautiful Country
Chapter 3, The Social Organization of Human Smuggling
Chapter 4, The Air Route
Chapter 5, The Sea Route
Chapter 6, The Land Route
Chapter 7, Safe Houses
Chapter 8, Life in the Mountain of Gold
Chapter 9, Stemming the Tide

Chapter 1, Leaving for the Beautiful Country

"(T)he illegal passage of Chinese immigrants appears to be relatively more risky than that of other immigrant groups. Many smuggled Chinese have reportedly lost their lives in accidents in transit-countries or on U.S. borders. Those who do make it to the United States safely may be subject to kidnapping and torture at the hands of debt-collectors and other criminals who prey upon them." (page 7)

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Chapter 2, In Search of the Beautiful Country

"Even though immigrants are considered by members of the host country to be living at the margin of society, immigrants tend to see themselves differently (Mahler 1995). In fact, the perceptions of the host society are largely irrelevant to immigrants." (page 9)

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Chapter 3, The Social Organization of Human Smuggling

"Big snakeheads (or arrangers/investors), often Chinese living outside China, generally invest money in a smuggling operation and oversee the entire operation but usually are not known by those being smuggled. Little snakeheads, or recruiters, usually live in China and work as middlemen between big snakeheads and customers; they are mainly responsible for finding and screening customers and collecting down payments." (page 29)

"After arriving in New York City, some subjects were forced to pay more than the price set in China and overcharged for phone calls to China. Some snakeheads 'sold' their clients to other snakeheads at various transit points when they were unable to obtain fraudulent travel documents for them." (page 32)

"The average down payment of my respondents was $3,069, but the mode was $1,000....
       "One chilling aspect of these contracts is the understanding by both parties that the smugglers can hold their clients hostage if the clients, upon arrival in America, do not come up with the smuggling fee." (page 37)

"My data...suggest that the Chinese trade in human smuggling is not a form of organized crime but rather a 'business' controlled by many otherwise legitimate groups, both small and large, working independently, each with its own organization, connections, methods, and routes." (page 41)

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Chapter 4, The Air Route

"Even for those who made the fewest stops along the way, the trip (by air) was not quick or easy. Most spent about a week in their first transit point and about a month in the second....
        "On average, respondents arrived in the United State 106 days after leaving China." (page 50)

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Chapter 5, The Sea Route

"In general, however, bad weather, unseaworthy ships, poor sanitation, lack of food and water, and physical or sexual abuse made the sea voyage a nightmare for many of my respondents." (page 70)

"Most smuggling ships were originally designed and constructed as fishing or cargo ships and are usually ill-equipped to accommodate hundreds of passengers." (page 71)

"In the crowded conditions at sea, on ships not designed for carrying passengers, conflicts often erupt. One subject described fights that broke out over food and cigarettes. Another said, 'It was always the strong exploiting the weak. Many passengers acted like animals' and got in fights over food or water." (page 72)

"Most of my respondents who were smuggled into the United States by sea suffered terribly on their trips. Many of them broke into tears when asked what it was like to spend months on board a smuggling ship. A thirty-three-year-old woman from Tingjiang who paid $20,000 for the right to board a smuggling vessel cramped with 239 passengers summed up her feelings about the trip: 'All those things I experienced on the trip are enough to make me feel bitter for the rest of my life. This is a trip I will never, ever forget. I would not have imagined all these sufferings, even in my worse dreams. If someone paid me $20,000 to do so now, I would not take this dangerous trip again." (page 78)

"The conditions my sea-traveling respondents suffered were intolerable and inhumane. Sea smuggling and other methods of transporting illegal immigrants need to be curbed if only to spare these poor passengers. U.S. authorities should not underestimate the suffering of people who pay tens of thousands of dollars to be smuggled into the United States. Their experiences on board the ships may have long-lasting effects on their mental health...." (page 78)

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Chapter 6, The Land Route

"Snakeheads regard the land route as the most reliable way of smuggling immigrants into the United States....
        "Although the land route entails fewer risks of discovery, it is still dangerous and full of hardship." (page 79)

"As on the ships, there were fights among the Chinese when food or water was scarce. For many of my subjects, the temporary stay in Mexican safe houses could be another nightmare after spending several traumatic weeks on a ship." (page 80)

"Compared with those who traveled by ship, those who flew were generally less likely to suffer en route. Their experiences with Mexican safe houses and border crossings, however, were not much different from those of immigrants who came by ship." (page 82)

"As we have seen, Chinese illegal immigrants, regardless of their route to the United States, are vulnerable to many forms of abuse and victimization. Their lack of proper documents, language barriers, and need to avoid capture by authorities prevent them from seeking help and make them easy prey to all manner of exploitation. My respondents recounted many instances of extortion by authorities in transit points and robbery by local criminals." (page 83)

"Some (migrants) were physically or verbally abused by authorities in transit points. According to a thirty-two-year-old male from Changle, his group was abused by Russian police. Those who resisted demands for their money were assaulted. Sometimes the very snakeheads and guides who were supposed to protect them exploited my respondents...." (page 90)

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Chapter 7, Safe Houses

"Once smuggled to their final destination, they were obliged to pay their snakeheads the remaining smuggling fee immediately. To ensure prompt collection, most snakeheads denied their clients freedom of movement. Debt collectors kept watch over the new arrivals until the balance was paid, something that happened only after family members in China had spoken to the immigrant by telephone.
       "Because smuggled immigrants are worth as much as $30,000 apiece to snakeheads, outside kidnappers sometimes abduct them and then demand ransom, which snakeheads usually pay." (page 98)

"...(T)he longer a subject was held in a safe house, the more likely he or she was to be seriously and frequently abused by the safe house operators.... Human traffickers were unwilling to collect smuggling fees from their customers on a monthly basis and demanded an immediate payment of the entire fee." (page 101)

"Twenty-seven thousand dollars, the average balance due, is an extremely large sum of money for most families in China -- the equivalent of twenty years' income for an average wage earner. Although very few of my subjects had that much money in the bank before leaving, they came ahead in the knowledge or belief that their extended families and close friends would help them, after arrival, with loans and gifts of money...."
       "Even when the family can collect the money easily, disputes between the family and the snakehead may cause a delay in payment. Additional charges, such as legal fees, bail money, and expenses for overseas phone calls, may be added to the balance, without the family's knowledge....(pages 104-105)

"Immigrants were sometimes deceived by their little snakeheads in China, told they could work off their smuggling debt once in the United States, only to discover the hard truth upon arrival...." (page 109)

"After enduring much suffering throughout their journey, many respondents in this study arrived in the United States only to discover the worst was yet to come. I do not know how severely these immigrants are marred by their traumatic experiences in the safe houses, but it is probably safe to assume that those who are repeatedly abused and tortured over a period of weeks or months may suffer permanent psychological damage. One respondent told me of a man who became mentally unbalanced and verbally disorganized after repeated beatings. Another subject told of a female immigrant who was raped and beaten by her captors for months on end. When her family finally paid her fee and she was released, she was paralyzed and could not work to fulfill her American dream, the dream that led her to make the illegal voyage from China in the first place. Certainly, many would-be immigrants knew in advance what they were likely to confront if they could not come up with their smuggling fees quickly -- but probably none of them imagined that they would be subjected to such inhuman treatment in a place they thought of as the Beautiful Country." (page 110)

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Chapter 8, Life in the Mountain of Gold

"When asked about their main problems in the United States, almost all of my respondents emphasized their inability to communicate in English. Because most worked long hours side by side with other Chinese and had only one day off per week, they did not have time to learn English. Homesickness was another common theme. A substantial number of my respondents missed their families in China, especially when they were sick and during Chinese holidays and festivals. They were lonely and talked about how shallow their existence in the United States was. 'Life has no meaning for me now,' said one man, 'because I am so far away from my family and relatives. Every time I call home, my wife cries.' A forty-four-year-old man from Changle described his existence in the United States this way:

'Work in America is tough. I work in a restaurant for more than twelve hours a day and rarely have a chance to see the sunlight. It's like I am a cow or a horse. That's why America for me is like a prison. Besides, I am all by myself here, with no family or relatives. If I get sick, only my family and relatives will look after me. Who else will come see me? Also, people here care only about their own business. This is a utilitarian society where people have no compassion.'

       "The third most often-mentioned problem involved the nature of work in New York -- the difficulty in finding a job (especially a permanent or satisfying one), long hours, low wages, hardships at work, and abusive employers. Subjects felt constantly at risk of being fired because there was an abundance of cheap labor waiting to take their places. This type of pressure was overwhelming for most of my subjects, who were accustomed to chidaguofan (literally: eating food from a huge bowl, a reference to the socialist system), or tiefanwan (literally: an iron rice bowl, or government job). The freewheeling, cutthroat business of hiring and firing, especially in ethnic enclaves, was a shock to people from China, where most people work for the government and most government jobs are easy and secure.
       "A number of my respondents were under enormous financial pressure. Some had to repay their debts to family and friends who had sponsored their trip; others were paying loan sharks exorbitant interest charges. Even after these debts were paid, many respondents still felt pressure to send money to their families in China.
       "Other problems were dissatisfaction with living accommodations and the difficulty of adjusting to a new physical and cultural environment. One respondent said, 'You have to come see our apartment yourself to really understand how bad our living conditions are. If you look at the apartments in Chinatown from the streets, they may appear to be all right. But if you step into one of these apartments, they are like pigsties: small, filthy, and overcrowded.'" (pages 113-114)

"Little is known about the impact of illegal Chinese on New York City's economy. Because most of the respondents in this study worked in Chinese-owned businesses, however, it is unlikely that they take jobs away from non-Chinese minorities or women. I do think, though, that wages and job prospects for legal Chinese migrants may suffer from the illegal Chinese...." (page 120)

"Social workers in Chinatown have been alarmed by the increase in the number of smuggled Chinese who develop mental disorders....
       "After working a seventy-hour week, illegal immigrants return to cramped miserable apartments and collapse in exhaustion. In an effort to economize, immigrants often crowd as many as a dozen people into a one- or two-bedroom apartment...." (page 121)

"Many of the young adults in my sample were married and had children but had come to the United States alone. They missed their families and were sometimes traumatized by rumors that their spouses in China were having affairs, as well as by their spouse's suspicions that they themselves were being unfaithful...."
       "Some respondents were overwhelmed with smuggling debts. Others complained of their spouses' insatiable demands for U.S. dollars and worried that they might never satisfy their families back home. The combination of heavy debt and lack of good job opportunities can be an illegal immigrant's undoing." (page 122)

"Since most of the Chinese in my sample spoke no English, they were isolated from mainstream society. For them, the Mountain of Gold was Chinatown, an extremely small world indeed. Although no one in my study could be described as mentally ill, many described fellow immigrants who had become deranged as a result of the financial, emotional, and job-related stress to which all of these immigrants are vulnerable....
       "People who cannot cope with the pressure and suffering they face in their new lives sometimes commit suicide...." (page 123) "Studies on clandestine immigration have shown that illegal immigrants are vulnerable to crime in their host countries because of their undocumented status and inability to protect themselves.... Their reluctance to report crimes to the police makes them all the more vulnerable.
       "Many of the respondents in this study lived in fear of the Fujianese criminals who kidnap, extort, and rob illegal Chinese immigrants...."
       "Because smuggled Chinese typically have no bank accounts and deal mainly in cash, they tend to keep a substantial amount of cash in their homes. Home-invasion robbery has long been considered the trademark crime of Chinese and Vietnamese gangs, and about 10 percent of my respondents were robbed in their homes or apartments." (page 124)

"Some women, in debt to loan sharks, gave up on garment factory work and turned to the more lucrative work of prostitution. A $25,000 loan from a loan shark would accrue up to $750 a month in interest, making it virtually impossible for even the most determined seamstress to stay afloat and make her loan payments." (page 125)

"Illegals are seen as especially vulnerable to the temptations of crime because of their heavy debts....
       "Most respondents in my sample, however, repaid their smuggling fees through years of hard legal work rather than by criminal activity...." (page 126)

"I believe that few illegal Chinese immigrants become involved in either violent or property crimes. Because of their illegal status, however, they may fall prey to criminals in their own community, thus reinforcing the vicious cycle of crime and violence. It is also true that the arrival of large numbers of smuggled Chinese has resulted in the creation of an underground economy in which business transactions are not completely legal. Business owners and customers join together in shady business practices simply because it is cheaper or more effective to do so." (pages 127-8)

"...(F)ew would deny the economic opportunities available here. On the other hand, real access to those opportunities is difficult -- if not impossible -- for illegal immigrants. Even when those opportunities can be grasped, building a secure, rewarding life, whether in China or in the United States, remains an uphill battle." (page 131)

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Chapter 9, Stemming the Tide

"In recognition that lenient punishment failed to deter smugglers, the U.S. Congress passed the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, which dramatically increased the penalties for human trafficking: 'Persons who knowingly bring illegals into the U.S. are subject to a possible imprisonment term of ten years (and/or fines) per illegal....The maximum penalty is increased to twenty years per alien when bodily injury occurs or life is placed in jeopardy in connection with the smuggling offense. Additionally, when death results, the death penalty or life imprisonment is allowed.' (U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform 1994: 48). The U.S. Senate also passed the Foreigners Alien Smuggling Act in 1995, and the first RICO (Racketeering-Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) case against a Chinese smuggling organization occurred in Newark, New Jersey that same year. Fourteen defendants were indicted for bringing illegal Chinese to the United States between 1992 and 1994.....
       "Since U.S. courts consider the confinement of Chinese immigrants kidnapping, debt collectors tend to receive severe punishment when convicted...." (page 151)

"The Chinese Government must make a serious effort to educate the public about the risks and costs of illegal immigration." (page 159)

"The Chinese Government should allow its citizens more freedom to travel and emigrate legitimately....
       "Very few of my subjects had ever been abroad before they set out for the United States, but if they had been able to travel freely and legally, many of them might have been disabused of their fantasies about the 'Beautiful Country' and the rest of the outside world. As it is now, once they leave China, there is no way back, even if they come to regret their decision bitterly." (page 160)

"The best way to attack the smuggling networks is to deprive them of their profits. The U.S. should encourage illegal Chinese who have been arrested at the border to default on payment to their smugglers...." (page 162)

"...(I)n my view the massive emigration of Chinese, both legal and illegal, will subside only when China significantly improves is political and economic conditions." (page 164)

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