Immigrants find it’s barely worth it

June Casagrande

CRYSTAL COVE -- Ten men thought to be illegal immigrants from China

and stripped bare were found on the beach here early Thursday and taken

into custody by sheriff’s deputies.

Officials believe the men are all Chinese nationals who were dropped

off by a boat offshore near the El Morro Mobile Home Park. The men

floated to shore naked in the 60-degree water using life jackets, buoys

and makeshift rafts. They were carrying clothes and provisions in plastic

bags. Once onshore, they dressed, some in casual attire, some in suits

and ties, in an apparent attempt to blend in, authorities said.

A resident who saw the men land shortly after 3 a.m. shined a

flashlight on them. The men fled, and the resident called the

authorities. An Orange County sheriff’s deputy detained one man almost

immediately. The nine others who fled were all in custody by about 9:30

a.m. as the result of a massive effort of 10 governmental agencies,

including the Newport Beach Police Department.

One man was caught about four or five miles away, near Bonita Canyon

and the Corona del Mar Freeway. All 10 were within Newport Beach borders

when they were captured.

“We believe that they are all in custody,” Newport Beach Police

Department spokesman Steve Shulman said. He added, “we have no reason at

this time to believe that Newport Beach was a predetermined destination.”

The men are being held at a detention center of the Immigration and

Naturalization Service, where their stories are being checked out.

“We want to know who they are, how they got here and what they wanted

in the United States,” said Francisco Arcaute, a spokesman for the

agency’s Los Angeles division. “Assuming they are here as undocumented

aliens, they will be deported to their countries of origins -- that’s

once we’ve determined whether they are who they claim to be. If they’re

here for criminal intent, or to seek asylum, it’s a much longer process.”

Arcaute said there is no indication that the men had any harmful or

criminal intent. But in the wake of Sept. 11, the immigration agency is

“much, much more vigilant” in such situations.

Political asylum is granted only to those who can prove that their

lives are in danger as the result of political, religious or social

persecution. So far, Arcaute said, there is no indication the men are

seeking asylum.

He added that it is unusual for illegal immigrants from Asia to arrive

this way on the beach, as sometimes happens in Florida. Most illegal

immigrants from Asia arrive either in shipping containers or with the

assistance of smugglers.

Coast Guard officials are trying to locate the vessel authorities

believe must have dropped the men off somewhere near the shore.

It’s likely, Shulman said, that the vessel was one of two or more that

carried the men for portions of their long journey.

The agencies that took part in the operation to take the men into

custody are the Newport Beach Police Department, the Immigration and

Naturalization Service, the Coast Guard, the U.S. Border Patrol, the

Garden Grove and Irvine police departments, the California Highway

Patrol, California State Parks, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department

and the Sheriff’s Department harbor patrol.

* June Casagrande covers Newport Beach. She may be reached at (949)

574-4232 or by e-mail at o7 june.casagrande@latimes.comf7 .