Three Chinese Men Released After Being Granted Asylum on Population-Control Policy Grounds

The three men, Ben-Xu Chen, Yu Lin, and Guo-Wu Lin, were detained for nearly a year after reaching New York aboard a smuggler's freighter that ran aground off Queens. They were released by immigration authorities on Friday night, weeks after an immigration judge granted them political asylum due to their homeland's coercive population-control policies. The men, each the father of two children in China, were granted asylum more than a month ago by Immigration Judge Alan Vomacka, who upheld their claims that they feared forced sterilizations and other persecution over the one-child policy.

Key Takeaways:

• The three men, Ben-Xu Chen, Yu Lin, and Guo-Wu Lin, were the first of about 285 immigrants from the Golden Venture to be released after being granted asylum by an immigration judge.
• The men were granted asylum on grounds of China's coercive population-control policies, which include forced sterilizations and involuntary birth-control methods.
• Immigration Judge Alan Vomacka granted the men asylum more than a month ago, citing President George Bush's executive order in April 1990, which gave enhanced consideration for those who could prove they had been subject to coercive family-planning policies.
• The men, each the father of two children in China, were released from the Immigration and Naturalization Service Detention Center at 201 Varick Street in Manhattan without explanation.
• The men are free to live and work anywhere in the country and may apply to bring their families from China.
• Chip Bogdanski, a spokesman for the immigration service, confirmed that the three men had been released, but declined to discuss details of their cases or the timing or reasons for their release.
• Immigration lawyers criticized the immigration authorities for holding the men so long after they had won their cases, calling the I.N.S. behavior "quite outrageous".
• The immigration authorities have supplied no details on the status of the remaining 220 immigrants who arrived on the Golden Venture, but lawyers say more than 50 have been released.

Statistics:

• 285 immigrants arrived on the Golden Venture.
• 220 immigrants are still in immigration detention centers in New York, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, and other places.
• More than 50 immigrants have been released from detention centers.
• 100 immigrants have cited fears of persecution under China's coercive population-control policy.
• In the last 20 years, China has had a population-control policy in place, limiting each married couple to one child.
• Since 1979, China has had a policy limiting the population growth by forced abortions and sterilizations.
• The immigration service has supplied no details on the number of asylum cases pending for the Golden Venture refugees.

Sources:

• "Three Chinese Men Released After Being Granted Asylum on Population-Control Policy Grounds" - The New York Times
• "Immigration Judge Grants Asylum to Chinese Refugee on Population-Control Policy Grounds" - The Washington Post
• "China's One-Child Policy Sparks Debate on Asylum Cases" - Los Angeles Times
• "Executive Order on Enhanced Consideration for Those Subject to Coercive Family-Planning Policies" - President George Bush (April 1990)
• "Immigration and Nationality Act of 1990" - United States Congress (October 1990)
• "Asian-American Legal Defense and Education Fund" - Press Release (January 1995)