U.S. and Hong Kong (2003)

Accused Alien Smuggler From Hong Kong Faces U.S. Prosecution

Following is the announcement released July 1 by the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Department of Homeland Security:

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Accused Alien Smuggling Kingpin and Financier Faces U.S. Prosecution "Sister Ping" Brought to Justice After Eluding U.S. Officials For Ten Years

Washington, DC - The Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), announced today that Chui Ping Cheng aka "Sister Ping," has been extradited from Hong Kong to the United States. Cheng, an accused human smuggler and financier, has unsuccessfully waged a three-year extradition battle to elude American prosecution.

Cheng has been a fugitive since her 1994 New York indictment, as well as a superseding indictment in 2000 from New York, for alien smuggling, kidnapping, hostage taking and money laundering. In April 2000, she was arrested in Hong Kong after an intensive five-year worldwide investigation by ICE and the New York office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Hong Kong Police, in coordination with the former Immigration and Naturalization Service Hong Kong office, arrested Cheng at the Chek Lap Kok Airport on April 9, 2000. Her three years of extradition appeals in the Hong Kong judicial system were exhausted on June 9, 2003.

Cheng is charged with smuggling thousands of Chinese migrants to the United States between 1984 and 2000, charging fees up to $30,000 per person.

"It may have taken ten years to get Cheng into a U.S. court for smuggling thousands of Chinese migrants but that only demonstrates ICE's resolve to identify, investigate, locate and bring to Prosecution those who traffick in human beings," said Michael J. Garcia, Acting Assistant Secretary for ICE. "As a former federal New York prosecutor, I know what a victory this extradition is and want to Acknowledge the Hong Kong government for its assistance in seeing justice served."

Human smuggling and trafficking is a global multi-billion-dollar-a-year industry that threatens national security and public safety while undermining the integrity of United States immigration laws. As part of ICE's effort to further coordinate its smuggling and trafficking capabilities, the agency has proposed the implementation of Critical Incident Response Teams, directed from a proposed ICE Smuggling Coordination Center that would deploy resources, equipment and manpower in key geographic areas nationwide.

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