La Joya, Texas
Local police are accustomed to dealing with illegal border crossings but were astounded by the video of 15 Chinese immigrants unfolding themselves from the back of a sport-utility vehicle near this small border town.Immigration officials are seeing fewer Chinese immigrants along the U.S.-Mexico border.
The SUV appeared abandoned when police rolled up early on a recent Saturday morning. But when Border Patrol agents arrived and swung open the double rear doors, the Chinese immigrants tumbled out, squinting in the sunlight.
……The immigrants were silent, able to communicate only with hand gestures. They did not try to flee. One man wanted to use Cantu’s cell phone. When Cantu asked for the number, he was handed one with a New York area code.
Probably on his way to Chinatown….
……More than nine out of 10 illegal immigrants detained at the U.S.-Mexico border are Mexican. But for years, this easternmost sector of the border has had more than its share of what the Border Patrol calls “other than Mexicans” or OTMs, most of whom come from Central America.
OTMs: Honderans, Guatemalans, Nicaraguans, Salvadorans, and a few Middle Eastern terrorists with false passports for good measure.
But overall, the number of Chinese caught along the U.S.-Mexico border has been declining since the U.S. stopped its policy of releasing most illegal immigrants from outside Mexico until they could appear before an immigration judge.
……In the first eight months of this fiscal year, which began October 1, 512 Chinese were caught along the border with Mexico.
……Since 1882, when the U.S. began a crackdown on Chinese immigration that would last decades, Chinese have been crossing the Mexican border. Early on, most of the traffic was along the border with California because Chinese rode ships into Mexican ports on the Pacific coast, Kwong said.
……Eventually, though, Chinese immigrants began sailing directly into U.S. ports.
……Still, “we do encounter people from all over the world,” said Daniel Doty, Border Patrol spokesman for the Rio Grande Valley sector.
Just days before the 17 Chinese were picked up in La Joya, 13 Eritreans and five Ethiopians were caught in nearby Hidalgo
Link: http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/06/06/texas.chinese.ap/index.html
Most of the Chinese request asylum, and many of them simply dissappear before the court date with the immigration judge. Though most illegals are from south-of-the-border countries, this article points to a small, eclectic group who also manage to sneak in thanks to smuggling operations and lax border security.
Political asylum depending on the country of origin, is one thing. But the flood of illegal aliens from cesspools who misuse billions of dollars in foreign aid, and refuse to drag themselves, politically and economically into the 21st Century, is another. These so-called “underdeveloped countries” have had decades to develop. When they collapse into civil war and anarchy, or under the grip of whatever dictatorship takes over, we pay the price.
The government has been forced to tighten security because of public outrage by fed up citizens, but it’s still dragging its bureaucratic ass with regard to building a wall and giving the Border Patrol the weapons and recources they need to do their job.