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January 10, 2000 INS Returns Chinese Nationals From Guatemala GUATEMALA CITY The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) today announced the repatriation of 249 Chinese nationals from the smuggling vessel Wing Fung Lung. On December 10, 1999, the U.S. Coast Guard boarded the vessel on a search and rescue operation approximately 275 nautical miles off the coast of Guatemala. The disabled vessel had more than 200 migrants on board destined for the United States. The Coast Guard with the vessel in tow, arrived in Puerto Quetzal, the nearest port in Guatemala, on December 14,1999. The migrants were turned over to the custody of the Guatemalan government. The government of Guatemala asked for and received U.S government assistance in providing medical care, as well as processing and eventually repatriating the migrants. This latest repatriation group departed Guatemala City, Guatemala on January 6, 2000, late in the afternoon. The migrants were flown to Fuzhou, China, arriving about 4 p.m. local time on January 8, 2000. This is the fifth group of Chinese nationals repatriated to China since a surge of illegal smuggling vessels began plying the Pacific destined for the United States or U.S. territories since April of last year. In addition to this repatriation flight, INS has had four other repatriation flights since May 1999. Three were from the Island of Tinian in the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands, and one repatriation flight, in October 1999, was from Midway Island. Besides the 249 Chinese nationals returned to China on the January 6 8 flight, four crewmembers were brought to the United States and charged with alien smuggling offenses, which can carry penalties of up to 10 years in prison for each alien smuggled. The Wing Fung Lung, like many of the recent smuggling vessels, was best described as a "rust bucket" that was badly overcrowded; it lacked sanitation facilities, medical equipment, lifeboats or other lifesaving equipment. When the U.S. Coast Guard rescue occurred, most of the migrants had been without food or water for two days. INS |
Last Modified 02/20/2003