3 Suspected Smuggling Ships Boarded : Immigrants: About 650 Chinese are put in limbo off Baja after the Coast Guard comes to the aid of a disabled freighter. Officials are discussing what action to take.

Three suspected smuggling vessels carrying Chinese immigrants floated in bureaucratic limbo off the coast of Baja California on Wednesday after having been boarded by the U.S. Coast Guard, authorities said.

Officials in several agencies--including the Coast Guard, the U.S. State Department and the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service--were discussing the fate of an estimated 650 U.S.-bound immigrants aboard the boats, which remained more than 150 miles southwest of San Diego. No decision had been made as of Wednesday afternoon, according to the State Department.

The passengers “are fine, they are in good health,” a Coast Guard spokeswoman said, although the northward movement of Hurricane Calvin through Mexico has created the prospect of rough weather.

“We have no indication that they are in danger, but we have notified the State Department that weather is a concern,” spokeswoman Brandy Ian said.

A boarding party from a Coast Guard cutter went aboard a 160-foot freighter, tentatively identified as the Sing Ha, Tuesday night after the captain asked for help with a disabled engine. The officers found 236 illegal Chinese immigrants--215 men and 21 women--in good condition but with dwindling supplies of food and water, officials said. The disabled freighter remained about 45 miles from the Baja Coast and 150 miles south of the U.S.-Mexico border.

Crew members said the vessels were registered in Taiwan. After receiving permission from the Taiwanese government, the Coast Guard boarded the other two ships--both described as 150-foot fishing vessels--Wednesday morning.

There were 160 immigrants on one ship about 300 miles southwest of San Diego and 254 aboard the third, which was boarded about 600 miles southwest of San Diego.

The three ships were first seen July 3 and appeared to be heading for Mexico, a major route for illegally transporting Chinese across the border into the United States, according to a senior U.S. immigration official. He said officials believe the three vessels left China before a crowded freighter made a tragic landing in New York last month in which at least eight people died. The incident focused attention on the influx of illegal immigrants from China’s Fujian province.

President Clinton subsequently unveiled a plan to raise penalties for smuggling, expand interdiction and increase detention space for the Chinese immigrants, many of whom manipulate the slow-moving, backlogged political asylum process and disappear after they are released pending immigration hearings.

But options remained as limited in this case as they have in the past, officials said. Theoretically, the United States could order the crews to go back to Taiwan, if in fact they are registered in that country, or escort them back across the Pacific.

But given safety concerns, particularly in the case of the disabled freighter, it is much more likely that the vessels will be escorted ashore and the passengers arrested, U.S. officials said.

International maritime laws require the Coast Guard to bring vessels to port if they are unseaworthy or otherwise unsafe.

“Weather conditions have to be factored in, and factors include the stability of the crew and the passengers,” said an official who asked not to be identified. “There is usually tension on board; there are enforcers, often disputes. It’s a risky situation.”

The hurricane was expected to reach the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula by tonight but then move west, officials said.