http://www.detnews.com/2005/metro/0511/ ... 373346.htm

Sunday, November 6, 2005

Illegal immigrants found in trailer outside Wixom company

The eight stowaways from China who wanted to go to New York will likely be deported.

By Mike Martindale / The Detroit News

WIXOM -- A worker unloading recycled plastic products from a semitrailer last week found unusual cargo in a nearby trailer: eight very hungry and thirsty Chinese nationals, who hoped they were in New York.

The worker found the five women and three men after he heard them pounding and shouting inside the truck trailer, where they appeared to have been for several days.

"Only one of them could communicate with the worker and that was through some broken English," said Wixom Police Chief Clarence Goodlein.

He added that the worker learned that the group had climbed into the truck in Canada and wanted to go to New York.

"As it was, they were lucky they even survived the trip across the border from Windsor," he said.

Greg Palmore, a spokesman with the Detroit office of the Bureau of Immigration and Customs, said the eight people, all between 18 and 22, remained in custody Friday. The case remains under investigation.

Goodlein said police were called to the General Mill Supply Co., 50690 Pontiac Trail, at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday. The truck originated from Kautex Textron, a Windsor plastics manufacturer, and police believe the group had been inside the vehicle for at least two days and maybe longer. The illegal immigrants were taken to the Wixom company's lunchroom "where they ate and drank like the world was coming to an end," said Goodlein.

"Then we took custody of them and fed them again -- twice -- before federal authorities picked them up," he said. "It's really pathetic. You hear stories all the time of how people spend thousands of dollars and risk their lives to get into this country, but we don't see it in Wixom or Oakland County."

General Mill Supply President Stuart Rotenberg said the company has been in existence for 88 years and that he's never seen anything like it.

"When I got a call that we had a truck full of people, my first fear was that they might be dead," said Rotenberg.

"Depending on where they parked that truck it might have been days, even weeks before it was ever opened up."

Immigration officials told Goodlein that illegal immigrants discovered in Canada often file for political asylum and are released pending hearings.

The one man with some knowledge of English had the only Chinese passport, with a Canadian entrance stamp on it.

The eight people will likely be deported to China, officials said.