You Are In: USINFO > Regions > East Asia Pacific > Chinese Human Smuggling > In The Press
 
 

In The Press -- Family and Education

More and More, Women Risk All to Enter U.S.
By Lizette Alverez and John M. Broder, Dateline Tucson, Arizona, The New York Times, January 10, 2006
       More women are entering the ranks of illegal immigrants, according to academics, immigration advocates and Border Patrol agents.
       Alverez and Broder write: "Katharine Donato, an associate professor of sociology at Rice University in Houston who studies Mexican migration to the United States, estimates that as many as 35 percent to 45 percent of those crossing the border illegally today are women. Twenty years ago, fewer than 20 percent of the people crossing illegally were women, she said....
       "Some women cross simply to keep their families together and join their husbands after long separations, a situation that has grown more pronounced since the Border Patrol agency began stepping up enforcement 10 years ago. With the border more secure in California and Texas, many people are now being funneled into the rugged territory of Arizona - an effort that virtually requires the help of an expensive coyote to cross successfully....
       "Yet a growing number of single women ... are coming not to join husbands, but to find jobs, send money home and escape a bleak future in Mexico. They come to find work in the booming underground economy, through a vast network of friends and relatives already employed here as maids, cooks, kitchen helpers, factory workers and baby sitters. In these jobs, they can earn double or triple their Mexican salaries."
       The women brave dangerous travel conditions and beatings and rape by their smugglers. Many are caught by U.S. authorities and returned to the countries they were trying to escape.

Youth Migration on the Rise
The Frontera NorteSur (Las Cruces, NM), January 10, 2006
       More Mexican youth are migrating to the United States, according to The Truncated Hope, written by Mexican researchers Blanca Villaseñor and Jose Moreno Mena. The note the Mexican National Migration Institute estimates that overall youth migration increased 50 percent from 1999 to 2000.
       The two authors report that most teenagers who travel to the United States have limited formal education and were seeking better working and living conditions.
       Once inside the United States, 60 percent of the youth found work as agricultural laborers, service workers, gardeners, and others similar jobs.
       Villaseñor and Moreno say unemployment in Mexico is a growing factor for the increase in youthful migration. They cite statistics from Mexico's National Institute of Statistics, Geography and Informatics that say more than 1.5 million people older than 14 years of age look for work but cannot find it.
       The two researchers say that Mexico needs to create more than 1 million jobs per year, but only about 400,000 jobs a year were created during each year of the Fox Administration.

Holidays a Time for Children — To Be Smuggled into U.S.
By James Pinkerton, The Houston Chronicle, Dateline Hidalgo, Texas, December 7, 2005
       The Christmas holidays see an upswing in child smuggling, this article says.
       Some of the children are destined for black-market adoptions, but most smuggling along the Southwest border is orchestrated by undocumented adults living and working in the United States who want their children with them, especially during the holidays.
       Pinkerton reports: "Federal officials are concerned because some parents hand their children over to unscrupulous smugglers who often hold them hostage while demanding additional smuggling fees. And in Arizona, border officials have seen a disturbing trend of children being drugged by smugglers so inspectors at border stations cannot rouse them for questioning."

Family, Better Jobs Pull Mexicans to USA
By Haya El Nasser, The USA Today, December 7, 2005
       A survey released December 6 by the Pew Hispanic Center, a non-profit research group in Washington, found that most of the estimated 6.3 million Mexicans who are in the United States illegally came because of family connections and better job opportunities, not because they were unemployed or destitute in their homeland.
       The study found that undocumented Mexican immigrants have little problem getting work. The unemployment rate among those surveyed is about 15% during the first six months they're in the United States but drops to about 5% after that. The work they find, however, is not always stable and tends to be low-paying.
       The study, part of a series, was based on responses of 4,836 workers in six cities surveyed from July 2004 to January 2005.
       See: The Economic Transition to America: Survey of Mexican Immigrants, by Rakesh Kochhar.

"Destination America": Walking in the Shoes of Immigrants
By David Montgomery, The Washington Post, October 19, 2005
       The Public Broadcasting Service has produced a four-part television special-- entitled Destination America -- on immigrants and the United States.
       The programs look at the driving forces that have compelled individuals to immigrate to America, such as economic opportunity, religious freedom and artistic expression.
       The first of the four-part series, The Golden Door, looks at illegal immigration.
       See the PBS website describing the series.

Report Finds Colorado in Top Five With New Mothers Who are Non-English Speakers
Associated Press Newswires, Dateline Denver, October 14, 2005
       A survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau found that 11.1 percent of new mothers in Colorado speak little or no English. Some Colorado officials interpreted this as proof that illegal immigration is out of control, according to the article.
       In California, 20.6 percent of the new mothers spoke little English or none at all. The national average is 8.2 percent.
       The Census Bureau report released October 12 surveyed marriage, fertility and other data from 3 million residents nationwide from 2000 to 2003.
       See: Indicators of Marriage and Fertility in the United States from the American Community Survey: 2000 to 2003

Invisible to Most, Immigrant Women Gather on Corners, Hungry to Find Work
By Nina Bernstein, The New York Times, August 15, 2005
       Male migrant day workers seem to get all the attention in the U.S. press, but women make up 44 percent of America's low-wage immigrant work force, according to this article.
       Rhacel Salazar Parrenas, a sociologist who has written extensively about the feminization of migration, is quoted as saying that about two-thirds of illegal immigrants are men, primarily because of the demand for workers in agriculture. But global patterns show that women are easily half the immigrant workers flowing into large cities like New York.
       Bernstein writes: "Ms. Parrenas and other researchers find that women who migrate for work are likely to be single mothers supporting children in their native countries. Compared with their male counterparts, they earn less, despite higher levels of education, according to a 2002 study of the United States' low-wage immigrant work force by the Urban Institute, a research group in Washington, which estimated that two million foreign-born women made less than the minimum wage. Yet women are also more likely to remain in America, and they send home a higher proportion of their earnings."

Will Millions Retire Here or Go South of Border?
By Eduardo Porter and Elisabeth Malkin, The New York Times, August 4, 2005
       This feature article explores the social impact that millions of aging illegal Mexican immigrants could have on U.S. society if they choose not to return to Mexico after their working lives are done.
       Although many older illegals have family and property in Mexico and are drawn by Mexico's affordability and more relaxed lifestyle, others have already moved their families to the United States where they plan to live out the rest of their lives.
       The United States, this article says, "is unprepared to deal with millions of poor, aging immigrants eking out a living without recourse to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid or most other forms of federal assistance." Under current U.S. law, illegal immigrants, even though they may have paid taxes, are not entitled to federal benefits.
       But the article also notes: "Mexico is not prepared to receive them back. With a rapidly aging population living in Mexico and virtually no public system of social security or health insurance, Mexico could hardly cope with millions of returning immigrants who spent their working lives in the United States."

A Quarter of U.S. Illegal Immigrants Went to College
By Maribel Gonzalez, EFE News Service, June 15, 2005
and
Illegal Population Flows to Southeast
By Nicole Gaouette, Los Angeles Times, Washington, June 15, 2005
       About one-quarter of Hispanic illegal immigrants in the United States have some college education, according to a study by the Pew Hispanic Center.
       But most illegals -- 49 percent -- did not complete high school, compared to 9 percent of the native-born U.S. population, according to the study.
       The study also found that at least 6.3 million illegal immigrant workers were employed in March 2004, representing 4.3 percent of the civilian work force. Three percent worked in agriculture; 33 percent in a service industry.
       More illegal immigrants are settling in the southeastern United States -- North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia and Arizona -- instead of "traditional" states for illegals -- California, New York, Texas, Florida, Illinois and New Jersey.
       The study also found that 3.1 million children living in families headed by an illegal immigrant were citizens by virtue of having been born in the United States.
       See Unauthorized Migrants: Numbers and Characteristics, by Jeffrey S. Passel.

Texas Authorities Witness Surge in Number of People Smuggling Children
El Universal (Mexico), Dateline El Paso, Texas, June 2, 2005
       Texas authorities are finding that more children are being smuggled across the U.S.-Mexico border by people who are paid up to U.S. $300 to pass the children off as their nieces or nephews.
       Once over the border, the "uncles" and "aunts" give the children to strangers until their parents can reclaim them.
       U.S. authorities apprehended and repatriated 2,852 children to Mexico in 2004; in 2001 the number was 1,418.

Illegals' New Lament: Have Degree, No Job
By Miriam Jordan, The Wall Street Journal, April 26, 2005
       Young illegal immigrants, brought to the United States as small children by their illegal immigrant parents, are finding that while they can receive good educations in the United States, they cannot obtain jobs.
       A number of states allow illegal immigrants who graduate from local high schools to pay in-state college tuition. These include Washington, California, Utah, New Mexico, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Illinois and New York. Although there are an estimated 1.7 million illegal minors living in the United States, so far only a small percentage have taken advantage of this benefit, either because they don't know about it, are not academically prepared, or can't afford to do so.
       But for the growing numbers who do graduate U.S. colleges, their illegal status hinders their employment chances.
       Jordan writes: "Companies sometimes sponsor foreign workers with specialized skills, making a case for permanent residency, or a green card. But laws that apply to undocumented immigrants make it impossible for businesses to sponsor these youngsters because they have been living in the country illegally."

Illegal Mexican Immigrants Send the Most Money Home
By Marcela Cortes, EFE News Service, Dateline Orlando, Florida, December 17, 2004
       A recent study by the Banco de Mexico indicates that 83 percent of the remittances sent to Mexico come from illegal immigrants, most of whom are working in the United States.
       The study found that Mexican migrants sent home $13.8 billion between January and October 2004 -- up more than 23 percent from the same period of 2003.
       According to Gilberto Velarde, Mexican Consul in Orlando, Florida, an estimated 300,000 to 350,000 Mexicans live in Central and Northern Florida. Most are agricultural workers, but they send home some $300 million to their families in Mexico.
       Carlos Villanueva, chairman of the Association of Mexicans Abroad, is quoted as saying: "Remittances are estimated to total $17 billion this year, but such figures come up short because they do not take into account nontraditional ways of sending money, such as services or in kind. It is a fact that remittances are the top driving force of the Mexican economy."

Alone, Often Lost, More Kids Cross the Border
By Kris Axtman, The Christian Science Monitor, Dateline Houston, Texas, June 25, 2004
       The number of unaccompanied children being smuggled across the U.S. southern border is rising, a result of tighter U.S. border controls, this article says.
       Axtman writes: "While the number of apprehended juveniles (those under 18) has remained steady at about 85,000 for several years, the number of unaccompanied minors is climbing. Mexican figures show that hundreds more unaccompanied minors were repatriated in 2003 than in 2002 along the 2,000 mile U.S.-Mexican border."
       Michael Escobar Valdez, the Mexican consul general in Douglas, Arizona, says the number of repatriated minors in the Douglas area has risen about 27 percent over the last year.
       Wayne Cornelius, director of the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies at the University of California, San Diego, is quoted as saying: "Undocumented migrants are staying longer in the U.S. and more of them are settling permanently because we have sharply increased the physical risks and financial cost of coming and going across the southwestern border."
       But putting children in the hands of smugglers is a terrible risk. Mario Villarreal, spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of Customs and Border Protection in Washington, is quoted as saying: "The smuggler is the lowest form of human being, preying on his or her own people by deserting them, robing them, and even, in some cases, raping them."

Fear, Uncertainty Complicate Lives of Families with U.S.-Citizen Kids and Illegal-Immigrant
By David Crary, Associated Press Newswires, Dateline San Diego, June 13, 2004
       This long feature story examines the plights of illegal immigrants who have children, who, by virtue of being born in the United States are U.S. citizens.
       Crary writes: "Researchers at the Washington-based Urban Institute estimate there are about 3 million children with U.S. citizenship and undocumented parents. Many such children -- though no official figures exist -- are forced to leave along with their parents as a result of federal enforcement efforts which result in roughly 15,000 deportations of illegal immigrants each month."
       Waivers to deportation orders are possible, but scarce. Crary writes: "The government has placed an annual cap of 4,000 on such waivers, and limits them to illegal immigrants who have been in the United States at least 10 years and can demonstrate that deportation would impose 'exceptional and extremely unusual hardship" on a child or other close relative who is a U.S. citizen."
       Tanya Broder, an attorney with the Law Center's Oakland Office, is quoted as saying many illegal immigrant parents of U.S. citizen children fail to take advantage of U.S. health care services and other benefits their children are entitled to because they fear deportation.
       Bill Strassberger, spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees immigration, is quoted as saying: "You've got to feel for the families going through this. But, harsh as it may sound, you can trace the source of the problem to the parents' decision to come to the United States illegally. They had to know it was a dilemma they could face in the future."

Villa Envy
The Economist, May 17, 2004
       This article focuses on Fuqing city (population 1.2 million) in China's southern coastal province of Fujian, where the residents are relatively well-off compared with much of rural China. Yet tens of thousands of Fuqing's citizens have had themselves smuggled abroad in the past 20 years. What drives them is not absolute poverty, but "relative poverty" compared to what they know of industrialized nations.
       Families will pool their incomes and borrow from other villagers or underground moneylenders to pay human smugglers ("snakeheads") some $34,000 to smuggle a family member to an industrialized country in the West. This amount is the equivalent of what an average peasant earns in a lifetime.
       "Interest rates are steep," this article says, "1.5 to 2 percent a month in Fuqing's informal credit market." Being caught by Chinese authorities can mean a $1,200 fine plus detention.
       While it takes the smuggled person years of labor in a foreign locale to pay off his depths, the goal is to be able to send back money to the family. And many successfully do so -- as evidenced by the four- or five-storey western-style villas painted in bright colors that can be found around the city.

Colleges Can Bar Illegal Immigrants; Ruling by U.S. Judge on Virginia Schools Is Said To Be First in Nation
By Jerry Markon, The Washington Post, February 26, 2004
       U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III, a federal judge in Alexandria, Virginia, ruled on February 25 that Virginia's colleges and universities may deny admission to illegal immigrants.
       The ruling is believed to be the first of its kind in the nation.
       Markon writes: "The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1982 that illegal immigrants are entitled to a primary and secondary education, but it has been silent on higher education."
       Seven states in the United States allow illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition rates at public colleges.

Large Sums Paid Out as Mothers Are Conned
Financial Times Information; Global News Wire -- Europe Intelligence Wire, January 15, 2004
       Gangsters are conning heavily pregnant foreign women into travelling to Ulster, Ireland to have their babies.
       The criminals, who charge large sums for their services, tell the women that if they can have their babies in Ireland or the United Kingdom they will be eligible to stay, according to Patrick Yu, the director of the Northern Ireland Council for Ethnic Minorities.
       Yu is quoted as saying of the women: "They come here risking their lives and with no information and no documents. They just get their birth certificate and passport and disappear."

Hispanic Immigrants' Payments to Families in Latin America Are Growing
By Genaro C. Armas, The Associated Press, Dateline Washington, November 24, 2003
       Hispanic immigrants working in the United States sent back to their families in Latin America some $30 billion in remittances this fiscal year, according to a study release November 24 by the Pew Hispanic Center. In contrast, U.S. foreign aid flowing to all nations this fiscal year amounted to $17.2 billion, Armas writes.
       The study, which was sponsored by the Inter-American Development Bank, also found that people receiving money from U.S. relatives are more likely to consider emigrating themselves.
       Armas writes: "In Mexico, for example, 26 percent of respondents who received payments said they were thinking about moving to the United States, compared to 17 percent of those who do not receive any financial help from relatives."
       The Pew report was based on surveys of residents in El Salvador, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico. A separate survey was done of Hispanics living in the United States.

Border Net Snares the Very Young; U.S. and Mexico Report Flood of Children Left with Smugglers
By Ginger Thompson, The New York Times, Dateline Douglas, Arizona, November 4, 2003
       Children have become the next exploitable population to human smuggling gangs, this reports says.
       Tougher border controls mean that adult illegal immigrants who get into the United States are more inclined to stay rather than risk the difficult return trip to visit their families back home. Also, human smuggler, known as "coyotes," have tripled their fees in the last decade.
       In the first nine months of this year, Mexican consular authorities had repatriated more than 9,800 Mexicans under the age of 17 who were caught trying to illegally cross the border; last year, the total was about 9,900.

For Many Chinese, America's Allure Is Fading
By David W. Chen, The New York Times, Dateline Changle, China, September 7, 2003
       With more jobs available in small businesses, steel factories and construction, the people of China's Fujian Province -- the top source of Chinese illegal immigrants to the United States -- are more inclined to stay home, according to this report.
       Experience has taught many that life for an illegal immigrant in the United States can be very difficult. One Fujian resident is quoted as saying of his son: "He is miserable. He says to me, 'Why am I working so hard in America? I can get rich at home.' It's very different from the way it used to be."
       It can cost up to $60,000 to be smuggled from China to the United States. According to Chen, "Some smuggled Chinese are even leaving America as soon as they pay their debts, and without gaining permanent residency, because they want a less stressful life at home."
       Chen writes of his investigations in China: "In village after village, people outlined the same choices. If they got a good job here, they would stay. If not, they would try to borrow enough money to leave. Not one person talked about politics or human rights here, or China's one-child policy. The issue was money."

After High School, Undocumented Teens Face Difficulties
By Beth Lucas, Associated Press Newswires, Dateline Mesa, Arizona, June 2, 2003
       Children who are also illegal immigrants can be educated in U.S. public elementary and high schools, but once they graduate, the situation changes dramatically.
       Without documentation, they don't qualify for scholarships, a driver's license or a legal job.
       The U.S. Senate is considering a bill that would allow these students to pay in-state tuition to institutions for higher education. Current federal law requires noncitizens to provide proof of residence and pay international tuition rates.

Illegals Using Children To Fight for Abode in France
By Mark O'Neill, Dateline Beijing, South China Morning Post, October 11, 2002
       An increasing number of Chinese living illegally in France are attempting to use their children to obtain legal status, this report says.
       The children are coached by their parents to present themselves at a police station and demand political asylum. If the child is granted asylum, the rest of the family will then apply for legal status.
       There are an estimated 90,000 Chinese living illegally in France; 80,000 of them from Zhejiang province, most from the cities of Wenzhou and Qingtian.
       Most reach France via the former Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, Italy and other European Union countries.

At Journey's End, a Dark River, Perhaps a New Life
By Sonia Nazario, Los Angeles Times, October 7, 2002
       When children of illegal immigrants finally rejoin their parents in the United States, the end of a long separation is not always a happy one, according to this report.
       "The children show resentment because they were left behind," Nazario writes. "They complain that their mothers work too hard to give them the attention they have been missing....
       "Some are surprised to discover entire new families in the United States -- a stepfather, stepbrothers and stepsister...."
       Their hard-working mothers, on the other hand, think their children are ungrateful. Nazario writes: "In time, mothers and children discover they hardly know each other."
       NOTE:This story is part of a series that tracks the journeys of illegal immigrants from Central America. See Enrique's Journey on The Los Angeles Times website
       Chinese illegal immigrant families share the same problems. See Back in the United States, Meeting the Parents: Immigrants' Children Are American Born, Chinese Raised, and Confused, by Yilu Zhao, The New York Times, March 19, 2002

In the Shadows of the American Dream
By Lornet Turnbull, The Columbus Dispatch (Ohio), October 6, 2002
       Most illegal immigrants in the United States try to remain inconspicuous, but their precarious circumstances leave them vulnerable to extreme exploitation, this report says.
       Oscar Budde, a lawyer and Argentine native who works with immigrants in Columbus, Ohio, is quoted as saying: "What's very difficult to stomach is that sometimes some of that exploitation can come from within the community itself."
       Turnbull writes: "The American dream, Mario explained, is realized in three stages: crossing the border safely, considering the number who die trying to get here; helping relatives back home; and settling into a rewarding life in the United States.
       "'That's truly the first glimpse of the American dream,' Mario said. 'And then someone comes up to you and asks, Where are your papers?'"
       "'That's the moment you reflect on whether the American dream is really within your grasp.'"

Track "Anchor Babies"
By Al Knight, Denver Post, September 11, 2002
       There are an estimated 200,000 babies born in the United States to mothers who are in the United States illegally, Knight writes.
       These "anchor babies" become U.S. citizens at birth; their parents and relatives can also obtain citizenship for themselves by using U.S. immigration laws providing for family reunification.
       Craig Nelsen, director of Friends of Immigration Law Enforcement, is quoted as saying: "There is a huge and growing industry in Asia that arranges tourist visas for pregnant women so they can fly to the United States and give birth to an American."
       "In a recent year in Colorado," Knight says, "the state's emergency Medicaid program paid an estimated $30 million in hospital and physician delivery costs for about 6,000 illegal immigrant mothers. And the Nashville Tennessean reported last year that the Metro General Hospital in Davidson County had recorded 511 births during a one-year period, two-thirds of them to illegal immigrants."

"They Will Take Advantage of You"; Children of Illegals Face Challenges
By Elaine Thompson, Sunday Telegram, Worcester, Massachusetts, Dateline Marlboro, September 1, 2002
       Children of illegal immigrants find it hard to get jobs or a higher education.
       "Federal law, reinforced by a 1982 Supreme Court ruling, mandates that public school districts provide education to all children, regardless of their immigration status," Thompson writes. "But when illegal immigrant children turn 16, they are shocked to realize the door to the American dream is virtually closed to them."
       it is illegal for an American employer to hire undocumented workers. Those who do anyway take advantage of the illegal immigrant by paying much lower wages in cash, and some unscrupulous employers will refuse to pay anything at all.

Child-Smuggling Ring Broken Up by the U.S. Immigration Agency
By Eric Schmitt, The New York Times, August 13, 2002
and
5 Held in Alleged Immigrant Child Smuggling Ring
By Michelle Munn, Los Angeles Times, August 13, 2002
       The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) announced on August 12 that it had broken up a multimillion-dollar smuggling ring that transported children to their parents living illegally in the United States.
       Since 1994, the family-run smuggling ring transported hundreds of children from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras at a cost of $5,000 to $7,000 per child. The children were smuggled through Mexico into Los Angeles, then moved throughout the United States.
       Many of the children suffered from hunger or exposure, enduring treks through deserts and mountain passes.
       The smuggling suspects face up to 10 years in prison and fines of $250,000 if convicted. Those who are not legal permanent residents of the United States could be deported after serving their prison terms.
       The fates of the 53 children rescued when authorities arrested their smugglers will be determined on a case-by-case basis.
       See the INS news release INS Breaks Up Major Child Smuggling Ring.

Tearful Goodbyes in Hong Kong: Ruling Forces Many Migrants' Children Back to Mainland
By Michael A. Lev, Chicago Tribune, April 11, 2002
       "The question of how to handle the immigration status of more than 5,000 Chinese citizens whose parents have the right to live in Hong Kong while they do not is the most emotional, politicized issue to face the city since it was handed back to China by the British in 1997," writes Lev.
       In 1999, Hong Kong's highest court ruled that children of permanent residents had the right to live in Hong Kong, regardless of whether their parents had been permanent residents at the time of the children's births. "That meant that an estimated 200,000 to as many as 1.67 million or more Chinese citizens could have flooded across the border into Hong Kong, overwhelming schools, city services and the job market in this territory of 6 million," Lev writes.
       But Hong Kong's government felt the court had erred and asked Beijing to overturn the decision based on its power to reinterpret the Basic Law, which is the legal framework controlling Hong Kong as a "special administration region." Beijing complied, saying that for immigrant children to stay in Hong Kong, their parents had to be Hong Kong residents at the time of their births. Those in China needed an exit permit to join their parents in Hong Kong. Thousands, however, were already in Hong Kong as visitors and had applied for residency. They fought for "right of abode," but lost their case in January and were given until March 31 to return to China.
       Some left, but many of the 5,000 party to the lawsuits have stayed. Beijing has taken a hard line saying those who violated the March 31 deadline will be barred from reentering Hong Kong even as visitors.
       Families and democracy activists say this is Beijing's way of reining in Hong Kong's freedoms, writes Lev. Others see the ruling as upholding the 50-year agreed-upon separation under the "One Country, Two Systems" agreement and a way of preventing Hong Kong from being overrun by mainland migrants.

Back in the United States, Meeting the Parents: Immigrants' Children Are American Born, Chinese Raised, and Confused
By Yilu Zhao, The New York Times, March 19, 2002
       American-born children of Fujianese working illegally in the United States are posing a number of challenges to their parents as well as to U.S. school authorities, according to this article.
       This report explains that when illegal Fujianese immigrants produce children in the United States, they often send them back to China to be raised by their grandparents. The parents, burdened by huge debts to their smugglers and working seven-day-weeks in low-paying jobs, find they have neither the money nor the time to look after their children.
       But the grandparents typically do not send their American-born grandchildren to Fujian schools, Zhao writes. The grandparents' rationale is that success in life is a birthright of their American-born grandchildren, and, since they will be eventually returning to a U.S. school system, there is no need to bother sending them to Chinese schools.
       When these children are finally brought back to the United States by their parents, they encounter major difficulties. They speak no English, have little educational grounding, and even if they enter bilingual U.S. schools, the classes are taught in Mandarin or Cantonese, which are incomprehensible to many Fujianese speakers.
       Another problem is that these children, often spoiled by the lax discipline of their grandparents, refuse to accept the authority of their parents.