Chinese lives worth less

Notorious immigrant smuggler Sister Ping got 35 years today for having smuggled hundreds of illegal immigrants to the US in packed cargo ships. In the infamous Golden Venture episode of 1993, ten immigrants died. It's outrageous that Sister Ping only got 35 years, considering that cocaine and heroin traffickers generally face mandatory sentences of far longer duration. Apparently Chinese lives aren't worth much in this justice system: Manhattan federal Judge Michael Mukasey told her that what she said was "simply incredible." He then gave her the toughest sentence he could under the law. So she got 20 years for money laundering, 10 years for trafficking in ransom proceeds and 5 years for conspiracy to commit alien smuggling and related crimes. In other words, negligent homicide barely even factored in.

In fact, this heinous smuggling hearkens back to the days of slave ships, when Africans were packed into cargo ships for the long, arduous journey to the United States. How heinous was her behavior? In a two-decade smuggling career, the prosecutor said, Ms. Cheng charged exorbitant rates for a sea trip in which passengers were given little food and sometimes only two sips of water a day. Once they arrived in the United States she hired gang members to ensure that they paid their debts to her. Even the notorious Fuk Ching gang members testified against her. Given that she was one of the biggest "snakeheads" (human smugglers) of all times, the message sent here is that those Chinese lives sadly enough didn't matter much. And future smugglers will surely take note.

Tags:   golden venture, human trafficking, immigrant smuggling, sister ping, snakehead

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Posted on 3/16/2006 ( Permanent Link )
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