Word: shengmei
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...entered the U.S. as an illegal herself. Born in 1949 in the poor farming village of Shengmei in China's coastal Fujian province, she made her way to Hong Kong and then to the U.S. in 1981. After opening a small variety shop on Hester Street, then on the outskirts of Chinatown, she somehow obtained naturalization papers. A year later she was joined by her husband and children. According to Peter Kwong, a professor at Hunter College and an expert on people smuggling, she appeared at a fortuitous time, when ties between China and the U.S. were warming, opening trade...
...arrived in Beijing, however, instead of being honored, she was arrested. According to police and friends, she bribed her way out of custody but couldn't return to America because the investigation of the Golden Venture was getting close to her. She fled to her native village of Shengmei, which had benefited from the years she spent becoming an American success story. Shortly after arriving there she learned she had been indicted in the U.S. for human smuggling and illegal money transfers...
...took refuge at her house at No. 398 Shengmei village, which is three stories tall with a pagoda on the roof. She has erected other buildings in town as well. The once mud-slicked and unremarkable farming village is now dotted with flamboyant villas and pavilions, proof of the largesse of former residents who have made it big in the U.S. thanks to the auspices of Sister Ping. There is even a school set up to train future illegal emigrants in English. In Shengmei, local officials grown rich off her investments and enterprises in the village helped ensure her protection...
Police say she turned Shengmei into her new headquarters, continuing to travel extensively. She legally holds three passports: one from Hong Kong, one from the U.S. and one from Belize. Authorities say she has managed to make several visits to the U.S., where her son and husband continue to reside. Meanwhile she has allegedly explored new routes and techniques for getting people into the U.S. Police and immigration officials say Ping and other snakeheads have made an alliance with Serbian officials and now funnel several planeloads of immigrants a day through Belgrade to Europe and the U.S. One new method...
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