176 Chinese Held in Mexico With 6 Alleged Smugglers

Authorities in Ensenada held six suspected smugglers and 176 Chinese migrants who were discovered since Saturday along a coastal region sometimes used to ferry illegal immigrants from Asia to the United States.

One of those immigrants was detained Monday and a search was underway for remaining members of the group, believed to have set sail from China three weeks ago, officials said.

The immigrants, some of whom said they had not eaten in days, were found in separate groups in the countryside south of Ensenada and in a safe house in the port city.

Some of the immigrants told Ensenada police they had arranged to pay $3,500 each to be smuggled into the United States and up to $10,000 more upon arriving in New York, officials said.

Jesus Jaime Gonzalez Agundes, public safety director in Ensenada, said officers saw three loaded vans in the hills near Ejido Uruapan, about 25 miles south of Ensenada on Saturday. The smugglers and migrants fled, but most were caught. Gonzalez said about eight people were thought to still be at large.

Later that day, police found 96 other people, including several children, crammed into a filthy house in Ensenada that was used as a staging area.

On Sunday, authorities discovered more than 40 migrants on foot in the same rural zone south of town where the initial group was seen, Gonzalez said.

The immigrants told a police interpreter that they were part of a group of about 600 immigrants who left China aboard two vessels, according to Mexican news accounts. But Gonzalez said that could not be confirmed.

Six suspected smugglers--five Mexican citizens and a Chinese national living legally in Mexico--were held and turned over to Mexican federal authorities for possible prosecution.

The immigrants were expected to be repatriated to China. They were being temporarily housed and given medical attention in a municipal center in Ensenada. Although they were hungry, none of them was in grave medical condition.

“Some said they had not eaten in four days,” Gonzalez said.

With long stretches of remote coastline and proximity to the United States, northern Baja California over the years has been the site of several high-profile attempts to smuggle immigrants from Asia.

Last year, a fishing boat carrying 156 illegal immigrants from China was stopped in international waters by the U.S. Coast Guard. Smuggling charges were filed in U.S. federal court against 18 people. The passengers remained in the United States and have been seeking political asylum.

In a similar case in 1994, more than 660 Chinese immigrants were repatriated after the Coast Guard stopped three smuggling vessels off the Baja coast. That incident produced a diplomatic stalemate, with the Chinese passengers waiting on board, until Mexico agreed to accept and send back the immigrants.

But U.S. Border Patrol officials say that there appear to be few Chinese migrants crossing into Southern California illegally these days. Although 464 Chinese nationals were arrested crossing near San Diego in 1993, the number last year was just six, said Gloria Chavez, a Border Patrol spokeswoman in San Diego.