Fighting a Refugee Invasion

Hong Kong, with nearly 5 million people crammed into 404 sq. mi., has long been one of the world's most crowded spots. Today the British crown colony is trying to fight off a veritable invasion of refugees. In addition to the "boat people" arriving by sea from Viet Nam, thousands of Chinese are crossing the colony's 17-mile-long border with the People's Republic. TIME Correspondent David DeVoss, after accompanying one of the colony's border patrols that seek to apprehend and turn back these illegal immigrants, last week filed this report:

Dusk is just settling over the paddies and poultry farms along the Shum Chun River as Captain David Thomas, 27, and his squad begin their daily rounds. Floodlights soon snap on and illuminate the terraces of barbed wire and cyclone fencing that lead down to the river. Thomas, a veteran of British service in Northern Ireland, suddenly spots movement through his "starlight scope."

"Here come two on the far ridge," he says. Sure enough, two figures can be seen burrowing under a fence, then twisting through the barbed wire. By the time they clear the barrier, Thomas and his men are waiting for them--with bread, beer cans of hot tea and, after questioning, swift and sure repatriation to China.

Once again, a border patrol has snagged some "I-Is"--the nickname (pronounced eye-eyes) given to the illegal immigrants who try to sneak into Hong Kong from the mainland. "If the government ever puts a bounty on illegal immigrants, we'll all be rich," jokes Thomas. Indeed, nearly 46,000 have been captured and returned so far this year; more than 11,000 were caught in June alone. Nevertheless, Hong Kong officials estimate that they catch only half those who attempt to reach the colony.

To battle the refugees, Hong Kong relies on five aging police launches, 900 members of the British army's Gurkha infantry, 150 British regulars and 90 Hong Kong soldiers. Though Hong Kong is second only to Malaysia in its population of still homeless Vietnamese refugees (nearly 55,000 now live in camps in the colony), officials consider them a lesser problem than the illegal Chinese. Since the Vietnamese usually arrive by boat, the marine police sight them more easily; moreover, many now in Hong Kong will eventually move on to other countries.

Not the Chinese. Lured by higher wages and weary of the hardships at home, most IIs come to Hong Kong for good. They arrive singly or in small groups, armed and prepared to fight. Many are smuggled into the colony by immigrants living there; the largest such operation is run by a 100-member triad, or gang, called the Big Circle. One of the gang's ploys is to send a group of its members picnicking near the border; there they pick up IIs and escort them back into the city. Others come by way of Portuguese-run Macao, where "snakeheads" smuggle them in by motorized junk, for prices ranging upwards of $1,000. A few try to swim to freedom, wearing life jackets made of pillowcases stuffed with table tennis balls, or, in at least one case, a pair of water wings fashioned from inflated prophylactics.

The current migration apparently stems in part from a relaxation of China's penalties for such illegal departures. The governor of Hong Kong, Sir Murray MacLehose, estimates that the number of Chinese immigrants could total 370,000 within two years if some action is not taken; he has already petitioned Great Britain for more border troops and has asked Peking to tighten its own border security. The first contingent of 1,000 additional British soldiers arrived in Hong Kong last week, and China's 42nd Army, following its return from the February invasion of Viet Nam, is reportedly patrolling the border once again. How effective the Chinese will be in keeping their own people from leaving for Hong Kong is questionable. A recent meeting of commune leaders near the Pearl River, convened to discuss the problem, was canceled after its organizers discovered that more than one-third of the committee members were already on their way to, yes, Hong Kong.

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