Financing Illegal Migration: Chinese Underground Banks and Human Smuggling in New York City

171 Pages·2013·1.003 MB·English

by  Linda Shuo Zhao (auth.)

Transnational Crime, Crime Control and Security
Series editors: Anastassia Tsoukala, University of Paris XI, France, and James
Sheptycki, York University, Canada
Editorial board:
Peter Andreas, Brown University, USA, Vida Bajc, Methodist University,
USA, Benjamin Bowling, King’s College London, UK, Stanley Cohen,
London School of Economics and Political Science, UK, Andrew Dawson,
University of Melbourne, Australia, Benoît Dupont, University of Montreal,
Canada, Nicholas Fyfe, University of Dundee, UK, Andrew Goldsmith,
University of Wollongong, Australia, Kevin Haggerty, University of
Alberta, Canada, Jef Huysmans, Open University, UK, Robert Latham,
York University, Canada, Stéphane Leman-Langlois, Laval University,
Canada, Michael Levi, Cardiff University, UK, Monique Marks, University
of KwaZulu- Natal, South Africa, Valsamis Mitsilegas, Queen Mary,
University of London, UK, Ethan Nadelmann, Drug Policy Alliance, USA,
John Torpey, CUNY Graduate Center, New York, USA, Federico Varese,
University of Oxford, UK
Titles include:
Vida Bajc
SECURITY, SURVEILLANCE AND THE OLYMPIC GAMES (forthcoming)
Sophie Body-Gendrot
GLOBALIZATION, FEAR AND INSECURITY
The Challenges for Cities North and South
Graham Ellison and Nathan Pino (editors)
GLOBALIZATION, POLICE REFORM AND DEVELOPMENT
Doing it the Western Way?
Alexander Kupatadze
ORGANIZED CRIME, POLITICAL TRANSITIONS AND STATE FORMATION
IN POST-SOVIET EURASIA (forthcoming)
Jude McCulloch and Sharon Pickering (editors)
BORDERS AND TRANSNATIONAL CRIME
Pre-Crime, Mobility and Serious Harm in an Age of Globalization
Georgios Papanicolaou
TRANSNATIONAL POLICING AND SEX TRAFFICKING IN SOUTHEAST
EUROPE
Policing the Imperialist Chain
Leanne Weber and Sharon Pickering (editors)
GLOBALIZATION AND BORDERS
Death at the Global Frontier
Linda Zhao
FINANCING ILLEGAL MIGRATION
Chinese Underground Banks and Human Smuggling in New York City
Transnational Crime, Crime Control and Security
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978–0–23028946–8 (paperback)
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Customer Services Department, Macmillan Distribution Ltd, Houndmills, Basingstoke,
Hampshire RG21 6XS, England
Financing Illegal
Migration
Chinese Underground Banks and
Human Smuggling in New York City
Linda Shuo Zhao
Visiting Professor of Criminal Justice at the University of the
District of Columbia, USA
© Linda Shuo Zhao 2013
Foreword © Ko-Lin Chin 2013
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2013 978-1-349-45062-6
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this
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in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published 2013 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN
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registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke,
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ISBN 978-1-349-45062-6 ISBN 978-1-137-29090-8 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9781137290908
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Dedicated to the memory of Drs John S. Goldkamp and
Mark Haller
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Contents
List of Illustrations ix
Acknowledgments x
1 Introduction 1
Organized crime or illegal enterprises 2
Research on Chinese underground banks 4
Chinese underground banks in U.S.-bound illegal
immigration through human smuggling 6
2 Chinese Underground Banks in China and the
United States: Background 1 4
Historical background of Chinese underground banks:
P’iao-hao and Qianzhuang, old-style native banks 15
Re-emergence of Chinese underground banks in mainland
China: state policy and the financial environment 16
Regional variance in growth of underground banks
in Fujian 2 2
Underground banks in the migratory waves to the
United States 25
Summary 32
3 Main Clientele and Operators of Underground Banks:
Analysis and Findings 34
Main clientele of underground banks: Fujianese illegal
immigrants 3 5
Individuals operating underground banks and
operating style 4 6
Summary 58
4 Mechanism, Purposes, and Role of Underground Banks
in the Smuggling of Chinese 61
C entral role of dialect-based networks 62
Illegal immigrants’ use of underground banks 76
vii
viii Contents
Shift away from the use of underground banks in
remittance flows 8 6
Role of underground banks in illegal migration aided
through human smuggling 90
Summary 9 6
5 Facilitating Role of Underground Banks: Implications
of the Research 99
Key findings 99
Practical implications 103
Policy implications 108
Conclusion 1 17
Appendix: Research methods 120
Methodology: recruitment and interview of Chinese
illegal immigrants in the U.S. 120
Validity issues: bias and reactivity 127
Confidentiality and anonymity 1 29
Data management and analysis 130
Notes 138
Bibliography 1 46
Index 157
List of Illustrations
Tables
A.1 Comparison among major remittance transfer
mechanisms available to Fujianese illegal immigrants
in the U.S. 1 31
A.2 Schedule of interviews: December 2007–March 2008 1 32
A.3 Respondents’ demographic characteristics 1 33
A.4 R espondents’ use of smuggling and smuggling loan and
debt repayment 134
A.5 R espondents’ use of underground banks 1 36
A.6 R espondents’ plans 1 36
Figures
4.1 T he role of underground banks in supporting Chinese
illegal immigration through human smuggling 98
5.1 Chinese global illegal migration through human
smuggling: a multiple-network model 1 07
A.1 Formal and informal remittance channels for Fujianese
illegal immigrants from the early 1990s to the present 130
ix