In recent years, Haiti has become an important stop point for illegal Chinese immigrants smuggling themselves into the United States. The huge earthquake in Haiti has had a large number of causalities. Consequently, hundreds of illegal Chinese immigrants, who were waiting for the right time to go to the United States, are now missing. Their ordeals, whether they are dead or alive, are questions burning in the minds of their relatives in China and the United States.

On January 13th, in Manhattan's Chinatown, many Fujinese ethnic associations have been receiving long-distance phone calls from Chinese relatives of the immigrants detained or held in Haiti, wanting news of their relatives in Haiti.

Because Haiti and China have no diplomatic relations, China only has trade offices in Haiti, which have little protection power or function for the overseas Chinese there. Moreover, after the earthquake, the flow of communication has been down. Mr. Chen, a representative of a Chinatown association, explained that some Chinese immigrants were told by their snakeheads [smugglers] to hide in the homes of Haitians and were therefore not registered with local authorities there, making their safety and the likelihood of being rescued slim.

The associations urged the Haitian government and the rescue teams from China and other countries to pay attention to the lives and safety of those Chinese immigrants. Yesterday, a Chinese woman called one of the associations in New York to ask about her son, who is in Haiti. She said that all she wanted was her son to be safe and alive. Whether or not he'd be able to come to the United States is no longer important to her.