ABSTRACT
In June 1993, the Golden Venture, a ship carrying nearly three hundred undocumented immigrants from China, ran aground near Queens, New York. Ten migrants drowned; survivors were detained by the Immigration and Naturalization Service. The migrants had paid approximately $5000, with a promise to pay an additional $30,000 in labor, to a “snakehead” (smuggling) operation (Pienciak 2003). Cheng Chui Ping, the head of the smuggling operation also known as “Sister Ping,” was captured in 2000 in Hong Kong; she was returned to New York after a three-year extradition battle (Gearty 2005: 5). Sister Ping was convicted on charges of conspiracy, money laundering and trafficking in ransom proceeds (Feuer 2005: 3).
