An illegal immigrant greets California - but a clampdown is coming

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A YOUNG Chinese boy is all smiles as he arrives (illegally) in the promised land - Moss Landing, California - after authorities seized a fishing boat with some 120 refugees on board. The nine- year-old boy was taken into custody. On Wednesday, the US Coast Guard intercepted two boats trying to smuggle 270 Chinese into California. In Peking, the Chinese government said it had stepped up efforts to halt illegal emigration. A Foreign Ministry spokesman called for international co-operation in cracking down on gangs that traffic in humans, and criticised countries that had given political asylum to illegal emigrants. This year authorities on both sides of the Pacific have intercepted boats carrying about 2,500 Chinese, each of whom had paid or promised smugglers up to dollars 30,000 ( pounds 19,400) to get them into the US illegally. Many others enter from Mexico or arrive at airports with false documents