7 Ships Being Tracked as Migrant Smugglers : Policy: U.S. vessels keep watch off Baja to curb illegal entry by Chinese. Extent of Mexico’s cooperation in doubt.

U.S. and Mexican military ships tracked a small fleet of suspected smuggling vessels carrying Chinese immigrants off the Baja California coast Friday as the Clinton Administration confronted a rapidly developing test of its crackdown on illegal Chinese immigration.

The total of approaching vessels has increased to seven, according to authorities, who estimated the that as many as 1,500 suspected U.S.-bound immigrants are aboard.

In addition to three ships intercepted by the U.S. Coast Guard this week, the Mexican interior ministry said Friday that four more vessels had been detected near Baja California.

The clustering of seven ships in the same area is unprecedented, according to U.S. officials involved in combatting the two-year seaborne influx of Chinese immigrants.

“It’s almost an armada coming over here,” said a senior government official in Washington.

U.S. and Mexican officials spent Friday grappling with a problem of daunting human dimensions as the Clinton Administration asked Mexico to bring the first three boats ashore in Baja, detain the 659 immigrants aboard and assist with their repatriation by air back to China, at U.S. expense.

On Friday night, the Mexican foreign relations ministry issued a statement saying that the Mexican government was unable to accept the proposal.

Nonetheless, if the vessels enter Mexican territorial waters, the statement said, the Chinese immigrants “will be given the necessary humanitarian attention, including immediate repatriation to their country of origin in dignified conditions and with respect of their human rights.”

Although Mexican Navy ships will not heed the U.S. request to detain the boats, a Mexican government official said they also will not prevent the suspected smuggling vessels from entering Mexican waters.

This response leaves the fate of the Chinese immigrants--and of the proposed cooperative action by the U.S. and Mexico--unresolved. Earlier in the day, a U.S. official had said Mexico had agreed to accept and repatriate the Chinese.

The smugglers apparently planned to land in Mexico and spirit the immigrants across the Southwest border, a major clandestine route for illegal Chinese immigrants, officials said. The Clinton Administration was trying hard to prevent the immigrants from reaching U.S. territory and requesting asylum, which would mean either releasing them on bond or detaining them pending deportation.

“We are asking the Mexican government to receive the persons on board the three ships and repatriate economic migrants,” said State Department spokeswoman Julie Reside. “The U.S. is prepared to assist the government of Mexico with the costs of repatriation.”

The approaching ships are the first detected since at least eight Chinese died in a desperate landing attempt off New York last month. Shortly after that incident, Clinton announced a plan to get tough on illegal immigration from China.

He said the government would step up investigation and interdiction, redirect smuggling ships away from the United States whenever possible and seek legislation to speed the backlogged political asylum process.

Vice President Al Gore told reporters in Washington on Friday that the request for Mexican assistance was consistent with the new hard-line policy.

“We’re going to have a firm, no-nonsense response,” Gore said. “And this is part of that plan, part of that response. . . . They’ll be given careful attention according to the law.

“Those with legitimate requests for asylum will be granted asylum,” the vice president said, “but those who do not have legitimate requests, and historically that has been the vast majority in these cases, will be returned directly to China.”

In May, Mexican authorities repatriated part of a group of Chinese who had been arrested in a safehouse near the port city of Ensenada. The United States paid for the flight to China for 158 immigrants, accompanied by a squad of Mexican immigration police, U.S. officials said.

However, more than 100 of those arrested in Ensenada had previously escaped from guards at the Mexicali airport and fled across the border, where they were arrested by the Border Patrol and sought political asylum.

If Mexico detains the new Chinese immigrants, United Nations human rights officials will probably help determine if any are legitimate political refugees, U.S. officials said.

On Friday afternoon, Coast Guard cutters were escorting the three ships they have tracked since July 3 to a rendezvous point about 60 miles west of Ensenada. The boats, whose claim to Taiwanese registry has not been confirmed, were identified as the disabled freighter Sing Li 6, which was being towed by the Coast Guard with 236 passengers aboard, the fishing vessel Long Sen I, with 169 passengers, and the To Chin 212, with 254 passengers.

The passengers aboard all three ships were said to be in good condition.

Meanwhile, the Mexican navy was tracking four more ships detected in international waters, according to the Interior Ministry in Mexico City. Up to 12 Mexican navy ships had been dispatched to track the vessels, also believed to be of Taiwanese registry.

And Mexican authorities deployed federal police and immigration agents to patrol the barren coasts of the Baja peninsula in case any of the Chinese immigrants succeed in landing.

The location of the latest vessels was unclear late Friday. One was believed to be west of the island of Cedros, more than 300 miles south of Ensenada, according to a Mexican government official.

Another Mexican official, who also asked to remain anonymous, said Mexican naval officers had briefly boarded one smuggling ship Wednesday to provide food and water for the passengers, and then ordered the boat back into international waters.

The Mexican government has joined forces with United States and Canadian immigration agencies to investigate the international smuggling network, according to Mexican Interior Ministry spokeswoman Jeannette Broussi.

In addition, she said, Mexico has asked Chinese diplomats to help curtail illegal immigration, which originates largely from the coastal Fujian province.

Mexican assistance in intercepting and repatriating the Chinese would represent a “small victory,” the U.S. official in Washington said.