Hidden and Exploited

Posted on 24 May 2009.

US immigration authorities estimate that up to 100,000 illegal Chinese immigrants are smuggled into the country each year. Hundreds of thousands more go to Europe, South America, the Middle East and anywhere else they can find work.

China's snakeheads (people traffickers) are believed to charge up to US$70,000 per person to be smuggled abroad. Often they smuggle individuals "on credit", letting them work off the smuggling fee once they have arrived overseas. This indebtedness often leads to indentured servitude for the illegal immigrant once they arrive in the target country.

One such immigrant shared: "I paid 250,000 RMB (US$45,000) to come here. I had to borrow heavily from moneylenders to raise the funds. The snakeheads arranged everything... I've been paying the debts for 5 long years since I arrived here, and I still owe them 70,000 RMB. I borrowed on an interest rate of 2.5%. Almost all my earnings go to paying off the debt. But the jobs have paid so little!" (‘Chinese Whispers' by Hsiao-Hung Pai)

Another immigrant described 12-hour back-breaking working days picking lettuces. He was housed in a cramped caravan in a field at his worksite. Women are often forced into the sex trade. Other people work selling pirated DVDs on the streets, an industry run by organised criminals that is worth about £500 million (nearly US$1,000 million) a year in the UK alone.

When one immigrant wanted to leave such a job, he was beaten up by the gang and kept as a prisoner for three weeks, fed only on scraps and water. He had to borrow a further £7,000 at an exorbitant rate of interest to pay off the gang.

"Where are the churches and individuals reaching out with both practical help and the Gospel to the poor and neglected migrant workers?" asks OMF. "They are hidden, but all around us - in the street, in the fields, in restaurants and factories."

Pray that those who smuggle illegal immigrants and force them into exploitative work might be caught and stopped from continuing this dreadful trade.

Pray for illegal immigrants currently being mistreated in our own countries. May they be rescued and helped to find a better way forward.

Pray that the real story of what happens to illegal emigrants might be told in Chinese hometowns and villages where others are considering heading down that route. May they be deterred from starting along the path to such exploitation.

Pray for Christian believers around the world to hear God's heart for these downtrodden victims and to reach out to them with practical help and the Good News of the Gospel.