324 But the business of human smuggling: Ginger Thompson and Sandra Ochoa, “By a Back Door to the U.S.: A Migrant’s Grim Sea Voyage,” New York Times, June 13, 2004.
327 The “notable cases” section: Law Offices of Scott B. Tulman & Associates, PLLC (www.tulmanlaw.com).
327 Tulman prepared an appeal: Reply brief for defendant-appellant Cheng Chui Ping, United States v. Cheng Chui Ping, 06-1996-cr.
327 But the court wasted: United States v. Ping, No. 06-1996-cr, summary order, United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, November 19, 2007.
327.She had her own explanation: Confidential interview.
328.When I met with a police officer: Interview with Colonel Jaruvat Vasaya of the Royal Thai Police, March 13, 2007.
328 As of 2007, some Chinese estimates: Blatt, “Recent Trends in the Smuggling of Chinese.”
328 But today the fee: Interview with Konrad Motyka and Bill McMurry, October 31, 2005.
328 “The people going away”: Interview with Lin Li, Changle, China, February 20, 2008.
329 In 2002, for the first time: Denny Lee, “Years of the Dragon,” New York Times, May 11, 2003.
329 “Sister Ping got into”: Zhang, Chinese Human Smuggling Organization, p. 223.
329 I stopped by the church: Interview with Matthew Ding, November 8, 2005.
329 There are roughly 200 million: These figures are taken from the International Organization of Migration’s “Global Trends and Estimates,” which are in turn drawn from the United Nations’ Trends in Total Migrant Stock.
330 And in something of a paradox: “The smuggler is dependent on the state in a multitude of ways,” the scholar Peter Andreas points out. “The most obvious but essential point is that state-created and enforced laws provide the very opening for (and high profitability of) smuggling in the first place.” Peter Andreas, “Smuggling Wars: Law Enforcement and Law Evasion in a Changing World,” Transnational Organized Crime 4, no. 2 (Summer 1998).
330 Human smuggling is one: United States Department of Justice, “Distinctions Between Human Smuggling and Human Trafficking,” unclassified fact sheet, January 2005.
330 Afghans are smuggled: On the Afghans, there are numerous examples; see, for instance, Sarah Smiles, “Boats May Be Work of Syndicate,” Age (Australia), October 8, 2008. On Ecuadorians, see Thompson and Ochoa, “By a Back Door to the U.S.”
331 The convention has an additional: Adopted by the General Assembly in 2000, the protocol went into force in 2004.
332.The United States should remain alert: Interestingly, there is a positive correlation between countries with major corruption problems and countries with high disparities in income. A fascinating IMF working paper explains the correlation by suggesting that corruption causes income inequality. I wonder if it is not sometimes the other way around. See Sanjiv Gupta, Hamid Davoodi, and Rosa Alonso-Terme, “Does Corruption Affect Income Inequality and Poverty?” IMF Working Paper, May 1998.
332 “No agency of the government”: Joel Brinkley, “At Immigration, Disarray and Defeat,” New York Times, September 11, 1994.
332 On June 26, 2008: United States Attorney’s Office, Central District of California, “Attorney Working for Immigration Agency Arrested for Taking Bribes from Immigrants Seeking Status in the U.S.,” press release, June 26, 2008.
332.In 1995 the government re pealed: David Ngaruri Kenney and Philip G. Schrag, Asylum Denied: A Refugee’s Struggle for Safety in America (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008), p. 2.
333.Through a series: See, for instance, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service, “Backlog Elimination Plan,” report to Congress, June 16, 2004.
333 Like the Golden Venture passengers: Human Rights First, “Background Briefing Note: The Detention of Asylum Seekers in the United States, Arbitrary Under the ICCPR,” January 2007.
333 As a result: “Detention in America,” 60 Minutes (CBS), May 11, 2008. 333-34 On any given day: Dana Priest and Amy Goldstein, “System of Neglect,” Washington Post, May 11, 2008.
334 In 2007 the government held: Nina Bernstein, “Ill and in Pain, Detainees Die in U.S. Hands,” New York Times, August 13, 2008.
334 Immigration detention is now: Nina Bernstein, “New Scrutiny as Immigrants Die in Custody,” New York Times, June 26, 2007.
334 In 1999 a Chinese woman: Ted Gregory, “INS Use of Jails Debated,” Chicago Tribune, November 15, 1999.
334 According to a study: Priest and Goldstein, “System of Neglect.”
334 But the leading cause: Dana Priest and Amy Goldstein, “Suicides Point to Gaps in Treatment,” Washington Post, May 13, 2008.
334 It is an ironic reflection: Teresa Watanabe, “Report Decries U.S. Treatment of Migrants,” Los Angeles Times, March 8, 2008.
334 In 1999 the prison underwent: Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General, “The Immigration and Naturalization Service and the United States Marshals Service Intergovernmental Service Agreements for Detention Services with the County of York, Pennsylvania, York County Prison,” Report No. GR-70-01-005, June 25, 2001.
335 The motley coalition: Interview with Joan Maruskin, July 17, 2008.
335 Following the arrival of the ship: Josh Friedman, “NY Head Chosen for Key INS Post: Nomination Brings Praise & Outrage,” Newsday, May 28, 1994.
335 But after a few short years: Molly Gordy, “INS Managers Demand Ax for Boss,” New York Daily News, December 3, 1996; Molly Gordy, “INS Big Gave Korean Bizmen a Break After a Game of Golf,” New York Daily News, December 5, 1996; Molly Gordy, “Spying, Fraud, News to Me, Insists Fed,” New York Daily News, December 5, 1996; Mae Cheng, “Top INS Aide Replaced,” Newsday, April 15, 1997.
336 We sat at Slattery’s: Interview with Bill Slattery, July 7, 2008.
336 I thought about Sister Ping: Cheng Chui Ping v. United States of America, petition for a writ of certiorari in the United States Supreme Court, October Term 2008.
336.I thought about the hundred or so passengers: There is no way to know the precise figure. The New York Times puts the number at “at least half,” or fifty-five or so; Nina Bernstein, “Making It Ashore, but Still Chasing U.S. Dream, New York Times, April 9, 2006. But in interviews with several Golden Venture passengers and numerous supporters from York who continue to keep track of the passengers, I have heard that closer to one hundred are now thought to have returned.
337.On weekends amateur divers: “United Caribbean Physical Data and Notes,” dive notes by Dave Gillings, May 13, 2006, published on the Web site of the Palm Beach County Reef Re search Team (www.pbcrrt.org).
337 After the ship: Seth Faison, “Part of Immigrant Nightmare Goes on the Block,” New York Times, August 10, 1993.
337 Eventually local authorities: Amy Waldman, “Smuggling Ship to Become a Reef Off Florida,” New York Times, August 19, 2000.
337 One day in 2000: Caryl Clarke, “Golden Venture to Sink,” York Daily Record, August 18, 2000.
DOUBLEDAY
Copyright © 2009 by Patrick Radden Keefe
All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Doubleday,
a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and in Canada by
Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto.
www.doubleday.com
DOUBLEDAY and the DD colophon are registered
trademarks of Random House, Inc.
Snakehead calligraphy by Dr. Tang Xiao Xiong,
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Keefe, Patrick Radden, 1976–
The snakehead : an epic tale of the Chinatown underworld and the
American dream / by Patrick Radden Keefe.—1st ed.
p. cm.
1. Human trafficking—United States. 2. Illegal aliens—United States.
3. Human smuggling—United States. 4. United States—Emigration
and immigration. I. Title.
HQ281.K44 2009
364.1′370973—dc22
2008050049
eISBN: 978-0-385-53021-7
v3.0
The Snakehead Page 48