Shame of the illegal East Wood migrants

THE dream of a new life in the United States lay in ignominy last night for a bedraggled band of more than 500 illegal immigrants who returned to China tearful and with heads bowed. They emerged into the bright Xiamen daylight from the bellies of Royal Brunei transport planes, leased by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) for about US$1 million (HK$7.8 million). The landings brought to an end the ill-fated journey of the East Wood, a freighter which tried to smuggle the immigrants into the US, but ended up on the Marshall Islands after a reported hijack attempt and engine failure. The ground-breaking repatriation, carried out under a cloak of secrecy, is designed to halt the growing trade in human cargo from Asia to the US. The 525 migrants, accompanied on the eight-hour flight from Kwajalein on the Marshall Islands by 100 Jardine security guards from Hongkong, wore identical uniforms provided by the US military: ill-fitting blue coveralls, white T-shirts, and green baseball caps with the insignia ''Army Trainee''. Aircraft number V8-RBG, leased from Royal Brunei Airlines, was the first to touch down at 12.30 pm and was quickly surrounded by dozens of Public Security Bureau officers, some armed. More officers waited in nearby buses to move the would-be immigrants out of the airport, and reportedly to their homes and families in Fuzhou seven hours away. In an unprecedented move, the IOM has said US officials may come to Fuzhou and ensure Beijing keeps its promise not to persecute or impose fines on the returnees. China yesterday made no comment on the secret operation. The plane was first approached by a number of Chinese and Western officials, army and police personnel who exchanged documents with the pilots. Immigration procedures were done on the aircraft and an hour later the first passengers emerged. Every immigrant had a plastic identification tag on their wrist which was checked by a military officer. In an apparent show of benevolence, the officer, clad menacingly in full regalia with mirror sunglasses, smiled at the occasional returnee. The women came first, some hesitating halfway down the steps to wipe away a tear. Most of the men came out with heads bowed, and the ones that took off their caps looked around in bewilderment. Each bus quickly filled, with every returnee seated next to a PSB officer, and the vehicles sped across the tarmac and out of the airport. The last bus to leave was full of their meagre belongings, plastic bags tied with string and items of loose clothing. It was six hours before the C-130 Pelita Air transport plane leased from Indonesia, came into view. The Royal Brunei 767s had long gone. This time the rear cargo door opened immediately and more of the blue overalls and green caps appeared in the fading light and channelled through a cordon of PSB on to more buses. The plane was later seen at Kai Tak. A second C-130 that reportedly left the Marshalls at the same time early yesterday, did not appear. The IOM had spent weeks negotiating with airlines from as far away as Ireland and all over Southeast Asia, but none were quick to offer help. The migrants had been prepared to spend their life savings and wallow for weeks in the stinking hold of the East Wood to escape the lives they have returned to face again. Days turned to weeks as the ship broke down near the Marshall Islands, halfway to its destination. The stricken vessel was reluctantly rescued by the US, who regarded it as a humanitarian duty after reports of disease and violence on board. It was towed by the Coast Guard to the nearby US missile base on the atoll of Kwajalein, land leased from the Marshallese Government which was even more reluctant to become embroiled in an international political hot potato. US investigators favour the theory the East Wood was boarded by two different parties of migrants, explaining why one group was locked in the hold and another remained on deck. The first group boarded at Fuzhou, and the second was carried by a smaller vessel to the East Wood later on route, it is believed. Five recruiters are said to have been used, each of whom met about 100 willing passengers in Fuzhou's hotels. One US official said: ''The Fukinese have traditionally travelled extensively and have relatives in the US who have done well and need other relatives to come and work for them. ''This is the incentive for them to go, and it suits the recruiters because they need to make sure the passengers have jobs so they can pay off their debts when they arrive. ''They don't take single people with no relatives left behind either, they need an insurance policy. ''If they make it to the US they have won, there's no way we can stop them. The only way to stop it is to go after the ringleaders here, but for some reason Washington is reluctant to do that.''