2 Chinese Immigrants Win Political Asylum : Smuggling: One man said he was persecuted for having more than one child. The other is a journalist who criticized the government.

Two Chinese nationals from Fujian province who were smuggled to the West Coast on filthy, crowded ships have won political asylum, the first of the recent wave of Chinese immigrants to win their freedom in Southern California, according to local immigration attorneys.

One man who was released Wednesday said he was persecuted for violating China’s one-child policy. A successful asylum application based on the one-child policy could indicate that scores more Chinese stand a chance of legal U.S. residency. Many of the immigrants fleeing China’s southern province cite their homeland’s childbearing restrictions as the reason for their flight.

The second man, who will be released from detention this morning, is a journalist who criticized the government.

“We have had to date three hearings and we have won two of the three hearings. To the best of our knowledge, no one else has been approved,” said Los Angeles immigration attorney Alan Richard Klein, whose firm handled both successful cases.

The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service declined to comment Thursday on political asylum cases, refusing to disclose even whether the two detainees were, in fact, the first to win their freedom among the current wave of immigrants.

But other immigration attorneys said that although other boat immigrants have been released on bail pending their hearings, they knew of no others who have prevailed in the proceedings.

Klein’s firm is representing 40 Chinese immigrants who were apprehended on two fishing boats that were stopped June 2 south of San Francisco. The boats, the Angel and the Pelican, were boarded by immigration officials after they docked in Moss Landing and Half Moon Bay.

The mother ship--which carried the immigrants most of the way--was believed to be of Taiwanese registry and was never found, Klein said.

Since 1991, authorities have confirmed that at least 14 smuggling vessels have landed in the United States and have apprehended more than 2,300 passengers, according to the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. Many other U.S.-bound vessels have been intercepted outside of U.S. waters.

The immigrants promise to pay up to $30,000 apiece to smugglers who arrange their journeys.

Immigration attorneys said the success of Chian-Ling Tjen and Ren-Fu Yang in gaining asylum only two months after they arrived on U.S. shores appears to reflect the fast-track review of asylum pleas called for by the Clinton Administration. The Administration has called for more expedited hearings and said its goal is to have most such appeals eventually heard by government attorneys within 10 days, with virtually no review by courts.

Los Angeles immigration attorney Hiram W. Kwan, who won political asylum for four Chinese nationals last year, said his clients remained in detention an average of eight or nine months.

But Klein and his partner, Richard Rogen, said the new cases are moving much faster through immigration court.

“We are scheduled for 32 hearings next week, all in a four-day period of time,” Klein said. The judge in the cases “felt that all of them could be handled in 10 or 15 minutes a case.”

The cases, he said, also indicate that the “one-child policy” defense--by Chinese nationals who express fear of persecution related to their country’s policy of forced abortion or coerced sterilization--remains effective despite the national clamor to more closely scrutinize asylum pleas.

Chian-Ling Tjen, 29, who was released Wednesday and flew to Boston to join his uncle, fled to the Fujian mountains in 1990 after his wife, who was nine months pregnant with twins, was ordered to appear for an abortion, Rogen said. His wife and four children, including the twins, remain in China and Tjen hopes to arrange for their political asylum.

Rogen said the majority of his clients are citing the one-child policy in their asylum claims. Others, who are Christian or Buddhist, are also citing religious persecution, he said.

“Credibility is what’s at stake,” Rogen said. “In (Tjen’s) case, his story was credible and consistent from the date of his arrest to the date of his hearing.”

But the quick review makes it difficult for those with less compelling cases to acquire the written evidence that may be necessary to convince judges of their claims.

The second man to win release was journalist Ren-Fu Yang, 35, who brought copies of his pro-democracy articles to court.